


Polar Star

by EnceladusLife



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Dark Magic, Demons, Dragons, F/F, F/M, Karasuno Family, M/M, Mages and Templars, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-15 23:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3465296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnceladusLife/pseuds/EnceladusLife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sugawara was sure he'd left his old life behind. He had a family, a home. But he had friends with demons, out for revenge. And the past has a way of coming back to haunt those who have done wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Sugawara Koushi was a gifted child. He hit milestones faster than the other children in his neighborhood. He learned to talk before them. He learned to walk before them. And he was loved by his neighbors as well. The old ladies would coo at him as toddled through the street. They loved how friendly he was and respectful to his elders. The other mothers were jealous of how quiet and well behaved he was. The other children were jealous of his cool silver hair.

Then, when he was five, just like the other mage kids, he grew into his first power. It was battle magic, elemental and primitive, the first magic any mage learns. The first spell he ever cast was an accident. It was a hot summer afternoon and his mother had just brought in a jar of fresh water. He went to pour himself a cup, but the water came out in chunks of ice.

Within a year, he started to show traits of his first Class. All mages were naturally adept at two of the six Classes, and his parents figured out fairly quickly that he was a healer. Suga and his friends rarely stayed hurt for long. He recovered from fevers far faster than he should.

"Perhaps we should enroll him at Polaris?" his mother said one day.

"That would be better than finding him a master. We have time to save up for it too, he's only six." his father agreed.

"He hasn't started showing any traits for his second Class yet…"

"They'll come soon. The second rarely takes long after the first."

~

Polaris was the most prestigious mage school in Miyagi. Located in the center of Shiratorizawa, it towered over the city, a beacon of hope for mages all across the country. Students entered their first year there when they were twelve.

First year students were placed in their dorms, then their classes, seven of them. They would learn each of the six magic Classes plus an elemental battle magic class. At the end of the year, they would choose to either study their natural Classes or learn a new set.

Suga went into his first year both nervous and excited about learning the other five Classes. He was a skilled healer at this point, but he'd never grown into a second power.

Six Classes: healing, enchanting, alchemy, psyche, conjuring, and destruction. All mages are born knowing the basics of two, but he'd only been born with knowledge of one.

"What does that make me?"

"A late bloomer. Nothing more, nothing less." Kiyoko said, putting a hand on his shoulder. She was a quiet girl who shared his alchemy and conjuring classes. The two became friends not long after the start of the year.

They sat together in class and found each during breaks and at lunch time, but they rarely talked. Mostly Suga rambled and Kiyoko listened. It seemed odd to their peers, but for them it was simple. They didn't need much else.

"Don't worry too much. I'm sure you'll start showing traits some time this year."

~

Ushijima was one of the youngest mages to ever earn a spot among the nine. He was a serious man with a stern face who was dedicated to his job. Jokes often went over his head, but he was usually friendly and helpful to students. He was referred to as Ushiwaka around the school, even Suga was guilty of using the nickname. He didn't seem to mind though, and responded to the nickname as often as he did his real name.

He taught destruction classes. In Suga's second year, he decided to take destruction as his second Class and was pleased to find Ushijima at the front of the room. Suga wasn't as good as the other students, Ushijima didn't mind. He was strict but patient, and he worked with Suga. Soon, Suga was improving. He wasn't catching up to the rest of the class, but he was getting better little by little.

"I wonder if perhaps you're like me, Sugawara." Ushijima said one day after class. He had called Suga into his study that afternoon, claiming he had something important to discuss with him.

"Some of us aren't born with a second Class that falls within the six. You may be something special, Suga."

"The only mages who don't have a second Class within the six are dark mages."

"I'm aware." Ushijima's voice fell into a harsh whisper as he leaned forward, close to Suga. "Everything I tell you here must remain a secret. Just between you and me. This is dangerous information... but it could help you."

"I understand."

"I'm a dark mage, Suga. Destruction is my first Class but darkness is my second. I believe you are the same, and I know how to find out."

"How?"

"Try to use dark magic and see how easy it comes to you."

~

They met again the next night, in the study. Ushijima's study was a small room, more of a closet than a proper study, with bookshelves for walls, filled to the brim. The room was lit with dim candlelight from a set of small candles floating near the ceiling. On a normal night, it would seem cozy, homey even, but Suga couldn't seem to relax this night.

Ushijima sat across from him, at his desk, in a rickety old chair that Suga was sure would break if his teacher moved too much. Suga was also scared to move. His hands were on the desk, cupped, holding a leaf. It was still fresh and green, like it had been plucked off a tree just a moment before.

"I'm going to teach you a withering spell. It's easy to learn, just look me in the eye and repeat after me."

Ushijima began reciting the words slowly, stopping every so often to let Suga repeat. them. They did that several times, Ushijima coaching and Suga repeating, until Suga didn't need help saying the words.

"Now focus on the leaf and say the spell."

Suga shifted his gaze down to the leaf in his hands and started saying the spell. He watched the leaf lose its moisture, turning brown and crunchy. Then, it turned black and fell to pieces.

"That was perfect." Ushijima said, his eyebrows raised. "I've seen light mages try to do it. Even if some thing happens on the first try it never does it correctly. They usually can't dry it out, so it turns to mush."

"So..."

"You're definitely a dark mage. It's good to catch that early, so I can start teaching you. It'll help you control your powers when you grow into them. That's usually around sixteen."

"So I'm only going to have a year to actually learn?"

"Oh, no. No, you'll be fine. You'll be able to use dark magic before then. You'll just get much more powerful when you come of age."

"I see..."

Suga frowned deeply and pushed the pieces of dead leaf around the table. He wasn't sure what to think about all this. Dark magic was illegal, but if he was born into it he didn't have a choice. He could just not learn to use it, right? But then he wouldn't be able to control his powers when he grew into them...

"Suga, don't worry. You'll be okay. I have some people I want you to meet. They'll make it easier on you."

~

Akaashi Keiji was a man of few words, few faces, and an undeniably comfortable aura. Bokuto Koutarou, on the other hand, seemed like the kind of guy one should avoid. Suga didn't just think this because he could sense the negativity of a Templar rolling off of him. Watching Bokuto bound across the room and never stop talking had a way of making Suga lose energy.

"How have you been?" Akaashi asked, sitting across from Suga at a small table. He offered him some wine but Suga declined.

"Better. This past year has been... difficult... but it's getting easier."

"The first few years are always the hardest. It helps to have friends with you. That's why we flock together, even if we don't really like each other."

"What about Bokuto? Haven't his superiors been suspicious of him lately? Is it okay for him to be here?"

"He's fine. He'd never tell anyone about us. He may be an idiot, but he knows what he's doing."

They laughed a dry, heartless sort of laugh an watched Bokuto talk animatedly to Akinori.

"You know, Suga," Akaashi smiled a little. "Ushijima is a great teacher, but if you ever want someone who's less of an asshole, I'm always open."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm okay where I am."

"I'm worried about him, Suga. The Circle and the Templars have been working together on some project. Ushijima has been trying to stop it, but he's only one in eight. He keeps getting outvoted. Bokuto is scared that they're going to start hunting us."

"Is there any way to know for sure?"

Akaashi shook his head. "No. Bokuto doesn't ran high enough to know and whatever Ushijima knows he's keeping to himself."

There was a moment of silence between them as Akaashi took a swig of his wine. Suga looked a round at all the mages standing in the room, happy. The thought of all of them dead put a knot in his stomach that made him glad he refused the wine. Ushijima caught his gaze for a second.

Suga turned back to Akaashi, who was staring forlornly out the window at the full moon.

"Stay safe, Suga. A bad moon's rising."

"You too, Akaashi."

~

Lessons in Dark magic were quick and secret and they often found themselves pressed for time. Still Suga would a cast a spell and fail, cast it again and fail again, and keep going through that cycle over and over until he finally got it right. And when he got one right, he felt something in him click into place. He felt like he _really_ could be a good mage, powerful and skilled. But for every piece that rejoiced there was a piece that warned. What he was mastering wasn't legal, wasn't right. For all the normalcy it gave him, guilt weighed heavy on his shoulders.

_Stay safe, Suga. A bad moon's rising._

There were nights when he couldn't sleep, kept awake by his own paranoia. If anyone found out about his lessons, he and Ushijima would be arrested, probably executed. Ushijima assured him that no one would know, they were being careful, but Suga still found himself wide awake in the early morning hours, tossing and turning in a cold sweat.

Kiyoko worried about him at times. She didn't need to talk to show him, and didn't need to talk to support him. She could tell when he hadn't slept and she would bring him snacks during breaks. She checked on him before bed some nights, too make sure he wasn't stressing himself out.

"I know you've had a lot on your mind lately," She said one day in their third year. "I know you're probably stressed because you're a year behind in your second class. It's okay though."

"Thank you, Shimizu. I still haven't improved much in destruction."

"But you're top of your class in healing and battle magic. Don't worry too much."

~

Ushijima Wakatoshi was a well liked teacher, but he had one major downfall: narcissism. He was kind to his coworkers and students and respected them as people, but he honestly believed he was the best of them all. It was almost unconscious, like it came naturally to him that others were below him. Suga wondered if it was because no one had ever shown him up, but he not to ever ask.

 Ushijima's ego was what set  him apart from Suga. While Ushijima thought lowly of his peers, Suga knew there were others out there who were better than him. He understood that their were infinite possibilities when it came to people, and he was simply one in a million. There were those better than him and those that were worse.

 The teachers would often challenge each other to controlled battles, both as a fun form of competition and as demonstrations for the students. There was one fight that seemed to piss Ushijima off. He confronted the loser  after it was over, telling him of his bad decisions and claiming the other teacher should have come to him for advice. The other man stormed off, infuriated.

 Suga decided that he would never look down on those below him, and never idolize those above him.

 He would be the best he could be because that was the best he could do.

~

Suga looked forward to seeing Akaashi every weekend. There was something about Akaashi that was comforting, in a way. So when Suga went to the tavern they usually met at and Akaashi and Bokuto weren't there, he still sat at their usual table, not sure what else to do.

 He ordered wine but didn't drink it.

 He stared at it. He remembered everything Akaashi had ever said to him, and they all clicked into place.

  _"Self-preservation is important. You must be able to protect yourself to protect others."_

_"Be careful, Suga. The walls have eyes."_

_"Bokuto once had a moment of clarity in the early morning. He hadn't slept in a while and he told me blood is to the rich as alcohol is to the poor. Pouring it makes them happy."_

Akaashi never showed up at the tavern again. The other mages disappeared as well, and Suga eventually stopped going. No need in visiting ghosts. In his fourth year, he hadn't been to the tavern in months. He had taken to the garden on the school grounds. He liked it at night, but full moons always sent a chill down his spine.

  _"Stay safe, Suga. A bad moon's rising."_

_He knew he was going to die. He knew, but he couldn't say. The walls have eyes._

_~_

In Suga's fifth year, he hadn't met Ushijima in a long time. He believed Ushijima had taught him all he knew, there was nothing else to be said.

 But still, Ushijima called Suga to his study after weeks of silence, and led him into the woods. He placed a list of ingredients and a list of instructions in his hands, and whistled a short song to him.

 "This is the last thing I can teach you: how to make a harkenstone. You know what a harkenstone is, right?"

 Suga nodded. "One of three types of power stones, made of rare ingredients and melted down, mixed together, and sung to while it cools. That becomes the first song it ever learns."

 "And it will continue to learn spells throughout its life. Those songs are spells. They can come in many forms: for defense, offense, or recovery. Most people I know say they should only be used in self defense, a last resort."

 "What do you say?"

 "I believe you shouldn't limit like this to a single purpose. I won't make you make one. In fact, I think it's best you not until you've settled down in a town somewhere. After that, you will have decided what you think they should be used for."

~

The day before graduation, Kiyoko found Suga in the gardens by the marigolds, twiddling his thumbs nervously and watching bees poke around in the flowers. She took a seat beside him and pit a hand on his shoulder.

 "Are you alright?"

 He sighed and smiled at her, patting her knee. "I'm fine. Is precognition something we all know in its most basic form, whether we're psychics or not?"

 "I don't think so. Why?"

 "I've got a bad feeling. Don't know what it's about, but I feel like something bad is on its way."

 "I know what it is. You're nervous about graduation. you shouldn't be, you know. They'd be crazy not to name you the Polar Star. There's no one else in our year that improved like you did."

 "I'm not nervous about _graduation_. I know I'm not. I can't put my finger on it, but it feels bigger than maybe not winning a title."

 "You aren't the type to worry too much about the future, Suga. If you really think something's wrong, I think you should listen to your gut."

 He relaxed, sighing, and put his head on her shoulder. "Thank you, Kiyoko."

~

The fifth years woke up early graduation day, all flitting around their dorms nervously, dressing themselves up for the occasion. The group had almost settled into a steady chaos, a low hum carried in the halls from everyone's voices and there was a welcome tension in the air. The foreboding that Suga felt the day before increased when he woke up, rolling his stomach in an unpleasant way that made getting ready for the ceremony tiresome and irritating. Kiyoko helped him as much as possible, gently smiling the whole time, encouraging him to simply get it done so they could finish the day.

She wanted to take him to the gardens before the ceremony to help him relax. She took him by the arm, ignoring his protests and led him through the throng of people in the halls and out into the yard. The sun was shining brightly, and the warmth did help soothe some of the tension in Suga's muscles.

"See? Fresh air does you good."

"Yeah, I see that."

She laughed at him and sat him on one of the stone benches along the path and dusted the shoulders of his robes.

"Everything will be fine."

It was cruelly ironic how a beat of silence came between her words and the first scream from the main building. Suga felt his stomach drop.  _I was right._ He started down the path toward the building, Kiyoko reluctantly following him, telling him they shouldn't go there, they should turn back. But he didn't hear her. He couldn't much over the beating of his heart and the screaming from the building. The screams unsettled him more than he thought anything ever could.  _He knew that voice._

He tried to deny it to himself,  _that's not really him. I'm just imagining things._ But he couldn't lie to himself when he saw Ushijima on the floor of the Grand Hall, on his knees and surrounded by Templars. He was wreathing and jerking, trying get out of their grip, and screaming "You're making a mistake! I'm the best thing that ever happened to you! You'll never find another mage like me and these kids need a teacher like me! You _know_ you're making a mistake!"

The Templars stared at the mage with expressions varying from mildly uncomfortable to terrified. The passed glances at each other, unsure of what to do with the man. The students looked around as well, searching for friends or teachers to comfort or explain to them. What was happening? Why was it happening?

Suga tried to clamp down on his thoughts so mind readers wouldn't hear him, but he couldn't help but wonder: how did they find out?

_Do they know about me?_

"I'm sorry, Ushijima, but we would have all met the same fate if we hadn't turned you in." A teacher said. Suga recognized him as the man Ushijima scolded  for losing a fight last year.  

The air in the room felt heavy and the Templars began to panic as Ushijima yelled at his coworker, his voice coming out in huffs of white smoke. The walls of the Hall cracked and crumbled in on themselves, falling all around the room. Students screamed as debris fell on them, and the lucky few who weren't trapped coughed from inhaling the dust rising from the ground.

"You'll all burn! You all deserve to  _burn_!" Ushijima screamed as the Templars tightened their grip on him, suppressing his magic, and began dragging him out of the building.  _  
_

The teachers cleared the rubble, tending to wounded children and filing those unharmed out into the yard. The school grounds were eerily silent afterward. No one talked. And some of the students still had dust on their robes during graduation.

~

Suga packed his things as soon as the ceremony was over. He wanted to get off school grounds as quickly as possible. He only planned on stopping by Kiyoko's room to tell her it was okay she won Polar Star instead of him, he wasn't mad. 

He wanted to go south, as far south as south could go. There were fewer mages and Templars there. It wasn't a place the Circle would think to look for him. He could disappear before they could prove he was a dark mage. Kiyoko would miss him, he thought, but leaving would be for the best. She might get in trouble for knowing a dark mage, or hiding one.He was sure she would support him if he told her, and he wondered if he could keep his secret from her if he stayed.

He wasn't too sure where to go. The southern prefectures took up a large part of the central and southern regions of Myagi. He bought a map in town ans stared at it for a while before deciding on maybe Izumitate. Maybe Chidoriyama. The southwest  _was_ mostly forest. The cities were few and far between, news didn't travel very fast.

That would be nice.

_I'm sorry, Kiyoko. Maybe we will meet again._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there everybody! Thanks for reading! Please tell me what you think of it, give me suggestions, point out mistakes, etc.
> 
> I wasn't really sure if I wanted add the prologue in since several of the events are mentioned later on in the story, but I decided to add it anyway. That way I can have a chapter that touches on the personal aspects of Suga's past.
> 
> I plan on this being a pretty long fic, but I'm not sure just yet how often I want to update.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's been a while, but I've finally got this done! It's the official first chapter. Yay.  
> Enjoy!

“Are we meant to believe the ravings of madmen and charlatans? Should we call council with the king now? For a rumor birthed in the deep woods and whispered in tavern corners?”

“You’re a fool if you think this is some petty rumor told while drunk. The southerners are hardy people. Somehow I doubt talk of demons in the forests is the talk of madmen.”

“If there are demons in the south, why have our colleagues not contacted us?”

“If there are not, why have the hill tribes disappeared and small villages still burn in their absence?”

“Perhaps your fire-breathing mercenaries burned them down!”

“I doubt it!”

“I do not!”

“Lies!”

Kiyoko was not surprised she had walked in on this, nine adults unable to meet without arguing like children. They were the elders of the Circle, yet she had met first years at Polaris with more maturity than them. She had been standing in the Council Hall for nearly fifteen minutes listening to the Nine bicker and insult one another. They called an emergency meeting and summoned her there to witness it, only to make no progress from the meeting’s beginning to now.

“Perhaps,” Kiyoko said, just loud enough to be heard over their squealing. “We should act under the assumption that the southerners speak the truth. There are an unusually high number of demons in the region that have been united under a single, currently unknown, force. We should send a representative to Sendai immediately to explain the situation to the king.”

The Nine quieted down long enough to hear her, then half laughed in her face and the other half nodded vigorously.

“Precisely!” One said. “Better safe than sorry. We’ll send you, dear.”

“Wait. No, I didn't mean-”

“Don’t be silly. You’re perfect for the job. Take Yachi with you, she needs the field experience.”

The other eight whispered among themselves until all were in favor. They quickly ushered Kiyoko out of the room, already calling for ink, paper, and a pigeon. Kiyoko jogged to her lab, half shocked, and began packing supplies.

“What are you doing? Do you need help?” Yachi asked, watching Kiyoko’s frantic movements nervously. She started picking up objects as well, but sat them back down when she realized she wasn't sure what to do with them.

“We’re going to the capital as representatives of the Circle.”

Her eyes widened. “F-for what?”

“To inform the king of the movements of demons in the south.”

“Are we allowed to do that? I thought the Nine are our representatives. Is this going to be dangerous?” Yachi’s hands began trembling. She sunk down into a chair in the corner of the room, sitting on her hands to still them. “Oh no.”

Kiyoko walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

Yachi had not been part of the Circle for long. She graduated from Polaris two years after Kiyoko, but did not join the Circle right after. She went home for a year before joining, and was immediately made Kiyoko’s assistant. Even if she needed the experience, Kiyoko didn't understand why they would make her take Yachi with her. She had heard from older mages that acting as a representative was stressful and dangerous no matter where you go, but the capital was the worst. At least in the prefectures, Templars didn't follow you everywhere you go. Kiyoko had five years of experience and didn't feel ready to represent anybody. How could they think Yachi could handle it?

“I will introduce you as my assistant and nothing more. All mistakes will be placed on me.”

“You really don’t have to do that, Kiyoko, I can share the blame! We’re partners! I can be a strong partner!”

Kiyoko smiled at her. Yachi was definitely dependable, if nothing else. “Okay. Pack your things. We’ll leave in the morning.”

Yachi nodded and smiled, trotting off to find a bag to put her things in.

They woke with the sun the next morning, loading their bags onto a small wagon and harnessing their horses to it. It wasn't a long trip to the capital, a few days at most. The pigeon would arrive first. There would be a welcoming party most likely.

“This will be an easy trip.” Kiyoko said as they started down the road. “We’ll be back in no time.”

~

Takeda did not take the time to stretch his legs once he was in the capital. He was a bit stiff from the ride; they'd moved for two days straight and Takeda was sure the only thing more exhausted than him was his horse. But he didn't have time to rest. He had a mission to complete.

He dodged the people in the halls, all the guards and advisers, and made his way into the council meeting chamber, where he was expected to meet with the king. There was no meeting that day, so the room was empty, save for the king. As soon as Takeda was before him, he bowed and announced, “I spoke with the lords of Kitagawa Daiichi and Yukigaoka. They confirmed the rumors of demons in their prefectures.”

“I know,” Ukai said, tossing a small roll of paper to his Hand. “The Circle has already sent us two mages as advisers. Only two, just in case this whole thing is _just_ a rumor.”

Takeda read the note over a few times. The letter was only three sentences long and didn’t give much information. Did they really not know?

“The lords say the person who summoned the demons is Ushijima.”

“Ushijima _Wakatoshi_? As in, the dark mage who killed five Templars before dropping off the face of the Earth?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell?”

“That’s what I said.”

Ukai sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. He sunk down into his chair, groaning. “This job is going to kill me.”

Takeda shrugged. “The job seems to kill many. Your great-grandfather died after being fatally wounded by an anarchist during a visit to Izumitate. Your grandfather fell ill and collapsed. I guess demons will eat you.”

“You know, you’re sense of humor grows more and more morbid as the years go on.”

Takeda laughed. “I guess you’re right.”

Ukai laughed some too, before having one of his servants bring him sake. He downed a cup as soon as it was brought to him, grimacing at the thought of Takeda’s humor in the future as he swallowed.

“What are you going to do about this?”

Ukai shrugged. “I suppose I’ll wait until the mages arrive to decide. I do know our soldiers can’t fight demons. Hell, they can barely fight _people_. I’ll need someone to teach them how to kill demons… How did our military get this shitty?”

“Peace does that to people.”

Ukai scoffed. “Maybe I’m just a shit king. Who knows. What was that guild in Fukurodani? Nekoma? They are good demon-slayers. Kind of don’t like them though, the lords complain about them causing too much trouble and breaking things all the time.”

“You may have to settle with them.”

The king scowled like the thought of it hurt him. How many hours had he spent listening to the oh so noble lords of Fukurodani drone on and on about a bunch of boys destroying a building or two here and there while gallivanting through the countryside murdering unsuspecting demons?

He hadn't cared much about Fukurodani at the time, but Ukai was scared of what _Sendai_ would look like after inviting Nekoma to visit.

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Then ask the mages what they plan to do about it.”

~

Circle mages were never flashy, that much Ukai knew, but he wondered if they were purposely lackluster or if Circle mages were just naturally boring people. Ukai had never seen Circle mages try to impress anyone, and the two women before him were a prime example of professional and disappointingly dull. They both bowed to him when they met him, as was expected, and their single wagon was unloaded and their flea bitten grey horses led to the stables. And despite the shining gold and grey robes, both girls found a way to look excruciatingly unassuming.

But that was the way of the Circle, Ukai thought, turn extravagance dull in the blink of an eye. Every prefecture, the Templars, and the Circle had banner colors and a staple horse. The Circle, upon its formation, had chosen the color of the rich, gold, and the most boring color they could pair with it, grey, and taken to breeding spotted grey horses. The only thing that struck Ukai as even more uncreative was the fact that the Nine preferred to use pigeons as messenger birds.

He was thankful, for whatever good it did him, that the Regent Cleric could be a freelance mage.

Though in terms of creativity, Ukai had to give props to these representatives in particular. The eldest had quite the head on her shoulders.

“Demon hunters are a wonderful plan, Your Grace, but I must suggest that you take Ushijima into account as well.” Kiyoko said. “He will be a difficult opponent alone… Have you considered how you plan on taking him out?”

“Well, I assumed soldiers would do it. That’s what they’re there for.”

Kiyoko nodded, but bit her lip. “I think you should bring someone in to dispose of him for you, and leave the demons to the soldiers.”

“You know someone?”

“An old friend.” Kiyoko pointed to the northeastern corner of the Chidoriyama prefecture in the southeast. “There is a village there, small and not well known, but I’m sure you've heard of it. It’s inhabited by nothing but criminals.”

Ukai leaned back in his chair, nodding, “Right, Karasuno.” He scratched his chin. “Why exactly would I ask anyone from Karasuno for help?”

“Sugawara Koushi is one of the founders of the village. He was also a classmate of mine at Polaris. Before Ushijima was arrested, he was to be named Polar Star, but as one of Ushijima’s students, he was going to be detained and questioned.”

“And he disappeared before that could happen. No one’s heard from him since. How do you know he’s in Karasuno?”  

“I worked my way from prefecture to prefecture, looking for rumors to find him until I finally did. What he’s up to, I don’t really know. Just knowing he was okay was enough for me.”

Ukai sighed, leaned against the table, propping his head up on his hand. Kiyoko had a point in that Ushijima was most likely best dealt with by someone who knew him, an experienced mage. Perhaps the presence of such a person could even deter Ushijima. But a piece of him said calling in citizens of Karasuno of all people was a _very_ bad idea. Not many knew the town existed, and he’d only learned of it through rumors coming from a certain informant that frequented the local taverns. Something about asking criminals, especially dark mages, didn't feel right.

But a handful of demon hunters and an inexperienced, undisciplined army didn’t feel too promising either.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way. Just know that bringing dark mages here is not smart. The Templars are bound to execute any dark mage they come in contact with no matter what I tell them to do.”

“I understand.”

“And you will have to go get him yourself.”

“I understand.”

~

Karasuno was not a village of early risers. Most of them forced themselves out of bed when the sun rose, bleary eyed and groaning to each other about the chill of the air. The shadows that fell across the village from the surrounding forest did not help the early morning cold, and the people there were not happy about being out in the cold, but autumn was setting in fast this year, and there were still crops to be harvested and crows to be fed.

Suga weaved between buildings with purpose, but slower than he had been earlier. He’d done his usual morning chores, and set off to check on his friends. Work in Karasuno always got done, but rarely on schedule. Those boys had a bad habit of getting distracted if no one told them to keep working.

There were certain times and certain jobs that kept the boys’ focus. They each had a favorite, and Kageyama was still doing his when Suga went to check on him that morning. He was tending to the horses, cleaning their hooves, manes, tails, stables, and making sure they were fed. There were eight horses. Six were solid black, and of the of the other two, one had a white stripe on its face and the other had a white star. Kageyama loved the horses, even if he didn’t admit to it out loud.

Suga moved on, deciding not to disturb Kageyama. He knew not to check on Tanaka, who was most likely already working in the smithy, or Tsukishima and Daichi, who got to work fixing the leak in Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s house first thing that morning. He trusted Ennoshita and Yamaguchi to be in the orchard, and for Nishinoya and Asahi to be in the field. He had half a heart to make sure Noya wasn't causing any trouble for Asahi, but settled on making sure Kinoshita and Narita weren't causing trouble for anyone.

He wasn't sure why they let those two feed the animals when they had a history of bad luck with animals.

Especially chickens.

Kinoshita was almost arrested once for kicking a man’s chicken.

“Are my chickens all in one piece?” Suga asked when he arrived at the coop. The chickens were mulling about, pecking at their feed. All of the chickens seemed happy and whole.

“Very funny, Suga. The chickens are fine. The crows, on the other hand, not so much. Hinata said he was going to go fishing, so he wanted me to tell you to check on the crows because they seemed upset.”

“And he couldn't tell me that himself?”

“He was in quite a hurry to go fishing.”

“Right.” Suga nodded, rolling his eyes, and sauntered over to the crow pen. They had a full murder of twelve, eleven of which were violently squawking and flapping their wings, hopping around the cage, biting at the wire. The oldest, a crow with a third white eye, sat silent in the midst of the chaos.

The elder crow was named Sage. He had been an early addition to Karasuno, a sickly bird with a broken wing that Hinata found in the woods one day while he was hunting. Suga had a feeling the first time he laid eyes on Sage that that bird _knew_ things. Daichi and Kageyama complained of the crow making them uncomfortable as well, but the three agreed to chalk the feeling up to the crow’s filmy third eye. It was stark white and pupil-less, with an unpleasant dry look to it. It could move around like a human’s eye. They all thought Sage was blind in that eye, but the eye still had a purpose, even if they couldn't put a finger on what that purpose was.

Suga vaguely remembered three eyed crows being mentioned in school once, less common than three eyed ravens, but more unnerving. Three eyed crows were usually seen as bad omens, partly because no one really understood what the third eye was for.

Suga was convinced, after knowing the bird for almost four years, that the third eye could see things before they happened.

“Sage doesn't like it when the other crows panic.”

Suga whirled around to meet Hinata, who’d appeared behind him holding a small basket of fish. Hinata was Sage’s favorite person. They had an understanding of each other that Suga couldn't quite describe, like Sage knew things about Hinata and Hinata simply accepted that fact.

“Even when something’s coming, Sage doesn't like to panic. I guess he feels like there’s no need, or maybe the crows panic enough for him too.” Hinata shrugged, his mouth settling into an uneasy frown.

“Do you think he knows something we don’t?”

Hinata shrugged again. “Sometimes the inside of his head is hard to understand. I thought maybe you could figure it out. You’re smart and you guys are kind of alike.” He tapped a finger on the basket of fish. “But it’s whatever I guess. I’m gonna go clean these fish.”

He smiled brightly and trotted off, leaving Suga a bit bewildered. What exactly did Hinata mean they were kind of alike? Hinata wouldn't answer the question of course, the kid’s mind ran a thousand miles a minute in a language most didn’t understand. Suga just let him do his own thing usually.

So Suga left the bird cage, pushing Sage out of sight and out of mind, and fell back into his routine. The day went by smoothly, no signs of anything bad on the horizon. It was kind of unsettling after the birds freaking out.

“I think you’re thinking too much,” Daichi said at dinner that night. “It’s probably something simple. A storm maybe? The birds don’t like storms.”

“I don’t know, Daichi, I've just got this _feeling_ , you know?”

“The last time you had a _feeling_ was when Asahi and Noya were fighting, and that turned out fine, didn’t it?”

Suga sighed. “Okay, fine, let’s say its just a storm coming. It’s too late in the season. A big storm might kill of the last of our crops. We don’t have enough stored up yet…”

“You worry too much. They’re birds, the simplest things spook them. It’s probably nothing.”

“And if it isn't?”

“You get to say I told you so.”

They both chuckled and Suga pointed his fork at Daichi. “You’re always such a realist.”

“How else am I supposed to keep your feet on the ground, hm?”

Suga laughed. They continued on with dinner, keeping the rest of the conversation light and casual. They then visited the rest of their family, as they always did, wandering from house to house discussing the day, telling stories and jokes, and simply filling the time between nightfall and bedtime. Then the yawns started, so everyone retired to their homes.

Suga and Daichi put out the fires in their home, all the lanterns and candles, slipped out of their clothes, and settled into bed. Suga was half asleep, his face nestled into the crook of Daichi’s neck, half registering Daichi’s fingers in his hair, when he heard Daichi mumble, “Even if it’s not nothing, I’m sure everything will turn out alright.”

~

Suga woke with a start, both from the sound of someone beating something and from all the candles in the room lighting themselves. He was half convinced the banging was just a dream, since when he opened his eyes, coherency slowly settling on him, all he could hear was the candles flickering and Daichi’s steady breathing.

It was probably just the candles lighting that woke him up. Yamaguchi made sure they lit at the same time everyday, but Suga never really got used to that spell. Fire wasn't really his thing anyway.

But even if the banging was a dream, the candles were lit, so it was time to start the day. He lay there, not wanting to leave his warm bed and cursing Daichi for being able to sleep through sudden bright lights. This happened to Suga every morning, having to convince himself to get up, then having to drag Daichi out of bed too. Daichi could at least perk himself up in the mornings, no convincing needed, but candles weren't enough to wake him.

Somewhere between the thoughts _I should just go back to sleep_ and _but Tanaka and Noya might burn the whole village down without supervision_ , Suga heard the banging again. He recognized it now as someone knocking on the door. But who the hell would be knocking on his door? If any of the guys had something to tell him, they’d wait until he was outside. Unless it was an emergency, in which case caution and privacy flew out the window and everyone just barged into each others’ houses unannounced.

When the knocking came again, Suga felt Daichi stir, and he grumbled, “You should go see who that is.”

“Don’t volunteer me.”

He said it, but he was already up and sliding on clothes. He shuffled out of his room and down the stairs, yawning, and was still rubbing his eyes when he opened the door. His hand fell from his face when he saw the three people outside, and he suddenly felt very very awake.

“It’s been a long time, Suga.” Kiyoko said, and Suga took a step back and promptly slammed the door in her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it took me a long time to actually convince myself to finish this, then a slew of computer problems happened, and somehow it's been almost two months since I uploaded the prologue. And to be honest, I'm not particularly happy with this chapter. I feel kind of weird about it.
> 
> But hey, I don't really know what I'm doing. *shrug*
> 
> So if you want to yell at me for not updating, or have questions or comments or something, just let me know!
> 
> Maybe soon I'll work up the motivation to get out better quality chapters faster.


	3. Chapter 3

“ _Daichi_ _!!!_ ” Suga screeched, retreating into his house. Daichi met him halfway down the stairs, looking panicked and confused.

“What? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“The _worst_ possible thing is happening!” He had Circle mages knocking on his door. Even if one was an old friend, Circle mages at his house could only mean _very bad things_. “What the hell are we supposed to do? There’s Circle mages outside! And Kiyoko is one of them! Do they know about me? How do they even know where I live?”

“Suga, hold on. They might not know anything about you. Don’t panic yet.”

“There’s plenty of reason to panic. Even if they had no idea who I was, Circle mages mean trouble.”

“If they mean trouble, you’ve got the whole village to support you. Let’s just ask them what they want.”

Suga sighed. “Sure, but they have ask outside. Whatever they have to say should be said in front of everyone.”

Daichi agreed and the two stepped outside, Suga smiling apologetically to Kiyoko. She gave him an understanding look, but the other two mostly looked confused and uncomfortable. The Hand was even twiddling his thumbs as if he wasn’t quite sure how all of this was supposed to happen.

They all just stood there for a moment in silence, unsure of what to say first. Suga thought that he wanted to say hello to Kiyoko but felt that might seem too familiar and might be rude to the others, so he settled on “What do you want?”

By this time, the rest of Karasuno had made their way to the front of Suga and Daichi’s house. Though most were keeping their distance, Kiyoko was noticeably getting nervous from the number of people around her. It took her a minute to decide on her words and stammer out, “We need your help.”

“With what?”

“We want you to come to the capital. Ushijima has returned and we were hoping you would be able to help the king defeat him.”

“And the demon army he plans on attacking Miyagi with.” Takeda added.

“That’s bullshit,” Tsukishima yelled. “It’s kind of weird that the king needs you to kill some guy for him just because you once knew him.”

“But,” Tanaka said, “She could be telling the truth. After all, it’s easier to attack someone if you know how they think.”

Kageyama scoffed. “Yeah, sure. Let’s say she’s telling the truth. What does Suga get out of it? I’m sure Ushijima is targeting the Templars, so I think he should stay here and continue to be a backwoods criminal like the rest of us. You know, in exactly the place he needs to be for Ushijima to give zero shits about him.”

“There’s a possibility that if you help us, the Circle could grant you a pardon. Then, the Templars couldn’t touch you for your past crimes.” Kiyoko offered.

Suga shook his head. “No. A _possibility_ isn’t strong enough to convince me to go.”

“Will you at least give me a chance to explain the situation in detail?”

Suga thought about it and looked around at his family. They were a group divided between yeses and nos. Half were shaking their heads _no_ do not _trust her_ , and the other half was shrugging _give her a chance_. He knew for a fact he didn’t trust the Hand or the little blonde mage, but Kiyoko was an old friend. He could at least listen to her explanation. He was sure he could trust her at least long enough to talk.

“Okay, but only you. Those two-” He pointed to Takeda and Yachi, “Stay here. I’m only listening to what you have to say.”

~

“I love seeing you again, but you can’t expect me to do this, Kiyoko.”

“I know, but asking you was worth a shot. I really do think having you in the capital could give us a strategic advantage. Could you at least give it some thought?”

Suga was reluctant to even consider it. He had people _here_ he needed to take care of. He couldn’t just leave them, especially not to go somewhere with Templars. If he did that, there’d be no guarantee he’d come back to Karasuno. He didn’t want to consider something that might separate him from his family.

But Kiyoko was a good person, a friend. He at least owed her some consideration.

“Fine. I’ll talk about it with everyone else, but I can’t promise you anything.”

“I understand.”

Suga left her at his table and went outside, where everyone was huddled in a group, waiting for him to come out. They were all on the ground, varying degrees of suffering on their faces, but they all perked up when they noticed him coming towards them.

“Suga! Is everything okay? They’re not making you leave are they? We’ll run ‘em off for you!” He was surrounded immediately by his friends, all of them asking him questions in varying volumes and energy levels. Suga waved for them all to back off. They all took a step back, but didn’t give him much breathing space.

“I’m fine. No need to run anyone off just yet.”

“We really will do it. Just give us the order!” Noya said. Tanaka agreed, high fiving his friend.

“Did you come to an agreement?” Ennoshita asked.

Suga shook his head “I told them I wouldn’t say anything until talked to you all about it.”

“I really don’t think you should go!” Hinata exclaimed.

“Shorty’s right,” Tsukishima said, annoyance at agreeing with Hinata staining his features. “I don’t think we can trust them. I know Kiyoko was your friend once, but she works for the Circle now. She might being taking you in as a criminal.”

“A woman as beautiful as Kiyoko would never do such a thing!” Tanaka said, waving his hand at Tsukishima, scowling.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Whatever, but the other two I don’t trust. The cute and innocent thing could be an act, especially with the Hand of the King. He’s in cahoots with the Templars.”

“There’s got to be a way to know if they’re telling us the truth or not.” Daichi said.

Suga brainstormed for a moment, but ideas came up short. Truth spells were difficult to perform correctly, and truth serums were even harder to make. If they had a skilled psychic, mind reading could be an option, but their village lacked even an inexperienced psychic. The only other option may not be in the area at the moment…

“There might be a way. Hinata, did you brine those fish yet?”

“Um, yes…”

“I’m taking them. I will be back soon.”

The thing about truth and the future was that it was not something many could see. Suga knew spells and potions could only do so much, but there _were_ options, if you knew where to look. Years ago, when he’d come to this forest, Suga stumbled upon a large clearing in the woods. He visited it often, but didn’t think much of it. Clearings were common. And he’d had experience with dragons in the north. They were long, serpentine things with beards and stubby legs and were wise but sometimes spoke in riddles. They wove through the trees silently, curving their snake-like bodies around tree trunks and rocks. Peaceful, but not particularly social.    

At least, that’s how they were in the north.

In the south, Suga had heard, dragons were bigger, bulkier, more muscular. They lived in the mountain caves in colonies. In the south, dragons had developed into loud, violent creatures with armor plating and pointy horns and leathery wings. Suga found that much to be true when he first met dragons in the clearing. However, he hadn’t expected their scales to be black and shiny with an opalescent sheen. Their heads were crested with black feathers growing between their horns.

He was terrified, at first, of their monstrous size and piercing screeches. But dragons were surprisingly easy to figure out. Feed them, and they are your best friends forever. Give them gifts and they give you snippets of things to come. Very useful friends to have.

Suga filled a bucket with fish and carried it out into the woods, following a worn path from Karasuno to the clearing, where he sat on a rock and put the bucket at his feet. He had met almost the whole colony at this point. There were two old ladies who rarely left the den, two younger females who often dropped by to see him during hunting trips, and three young males fresh out of the nest, just old enough to fly. If any of them were out and about it was those three. All Suga needed to do was sit and wait for them to notice him.

He was out there for maybe fifteen minutes before he heard the distinctive flapping sounds of giant, leathery wings. Three dragons flew overhead, huge, but not as big as they could be. They circled the clearing, getting lower to the ground as they did, until their feet met grass and they landed with a soft thud.

They twitched their tails a bit, finding balance on their legs, and shook their bodies as if the motion would push loose scales back into place. Suga pushed himself off of his rock, standing to greet them. It was the three young males, triplets who still weren’t very experienced with flight. They larger brother met Suga first, galloping across the clearing, roaring a loud telepathic “Hello!”

Suga dumped over his basket of fish, inviting them to eat. The larger brother, Kiba, was already ripping through the fish by the time the other two finished their slow approach. The middle brother, Haruka, silently lay down off to the side, and the runt of the litter with a single white feather in the center of his crest, Shirasu, scooped up a few fish and plopped down in his own spot.

This was how these meetings usually happened. Kiba was excited and enthusiastic, Haruka sat down without saying anything, and Shirasu took up the middle ground at equal parts quiet and enthusiastic.

“You probably need something, don’t you?” Kiba asked, swallowing his last fish.

“Yes, I do. I’m sorry. I wish this was just a friendly visit, but I need advice. A friend of mine wants me to go to the capital with her. She says I could help prevent a war, but I don’t know if I can trust her and I really don’t want to leave.”

The three dragons stared at him for a minute, considering his predicament. Suga felt a sense of foreboding settle on his chest when the three passed glances at each other, young and immature but knowledgeable all the same. They knew something they weren’t sure he should know, their eyes pointing in any direction but his and their feathery crests pressed against their necks in awkward worry.

Haruka met Suga’s eyes for the first time in months, and held his gaze for a minute, before quietly saying, “A bad moon’s rising.”

Suga felt a chill run down his spine, and he couldn’t look away from Haruka’s eyes. Shirasu and Kiba looked stunned as well. When Haruka tore his eyes away from Suga and looked at his brothers, they twitched, startled. Shirasu’s head turned to the side like a confused dog, his crest slowly rising off his neck.

After several minutes of staring, his eyes widened like he suddenly understood something. Shirasu turned to Suga, all confusion gone, and said, “He’s right. The road to redemption is a long one. Dangerous too, when the walls have eyes. It’s still essential that you and your people go to Sendai. You may be the only people capable of handling what’s coming.”

“Wait, _all_ of us? I can’t take everyone! If we all leave, the crops and animals will die. Are we supposed to come back to nothing?”

“This time, yes.” Kiba said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t give you the answer you wanted, but you have to go. We’ll join you too, eventually. We’re always listening. We’ll come when you sing.”

~

Karasuno was silent that night. Everyone knew that if dragons said it must happen then it must, but the citizens still packed their things with a weight in their chests. Going to the capital was like walking into enemy territory unarmed. Many of the crows were wanted for multiple terrible crimes and had been flying low for years, but now a seemingly random event was forcing them towards the hunting grounds, and poachers there loved tainted birds.

Come morning, Suga found Kinoshita in the chicken pen, spreading feed and leaving the feed bags where the birds would be able to reach them. Ennoshita, Tanaka, and Yamaguchi were loading down a wagon with everyone’s belongings, leaving a space where the bird cages would go. Hinata was busy transferring the crows to their travel sized cages and Kageyama was harnessing two of the larger horses to the wagon.

All of them were obviously upset, frowning while they did their work. The rest of the family was busying themselves by prepping the other six horses for the journey. When they were finished, everyone changed into armor before setting off to prepare for any threats they may face on the road. Tanaka and Ennoshita sat the front of the wagon to steer the horses and Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Asahi, and Nishinoya found spaces among the crates in the wagon to comfortably sit in. The others mounted their individual horses, and Karasuno started toward Sendai.

The trip was short and mostly quiet. Kiyoko, Yachi, and Takeda led the group, but did not talk to them, they didn’t encounter many people on the road, and Karasuno passed the time with conversation amongst themselves.

Despite the uneventfulness of the trip, the atmosphere around the travelers was heavy with apprehension. As soon as the white stone walls of Sendai peeked over the hilltops, all conversation ceased. To most, the city would be beautiful, a giant white mass of activity and opportunity. But to the crows, it meant nothing more than being too far from home and too close to danger.

They all collectively frowned when the city gates opened.

~

“ _Open the gates!!_ ”

At the sound the children who lived near the outer wall came running, curious, excited to see who was coming. Who were they? Bandits? Mercenaries? Nobles? A foreign princess? The options were endless in a child’s mind.

Suga knew their location meant they were poor. A bunch of young kids in shabby houses and dirty clothes. They had seen everyone possible come through those gates, but hadn’t yet learned how to fear. They didn’t know colors, or sigils, or birds. And they didn’t see bad guys as a threat, just more poor men getting taken away by rich men in silver armor. So, they sat at the edge of the road, watching strangers file in, the wonder still lighting up their eyes.

They reminded Suga of himself as a child, and all the other little kids in his hometown, when his parents would let him run around the streets with the other kids. They would see new ships come into the harbor and run down to the docks to see who was on them and where they came from. Were they pirates? Or were they here to trade?

He remembered the look of awe.

He never thought he would be the source of it.

But he could see the wide road he was on, built for horses and carriages, was getting cleaner the further in they went. Suga could tell when they were in the streets of the middle class, Tanaka grumbled about wishing he’d grown up with money, and the roads were semi-clean, and the houses were semi-decent. Parents pushed children inside, closed their shutters, drew the curtains. They were suspicious, and Karasuno couldn’t blame them. Their party was far too many strangers for their liking.

The roads soon gave way to the nobles’ houses, mansions just outside the castle grounds. Here, the parents stood at the edge of their properties, side-eyeing, scowling, with judgement on their faces. Suga knew where their hate came from. To them, Karasuno probably looked awfully self-important, dressed in black, riding black horses, and carrying crows. These nobles must have seen the black as Karasuno’s chosen color, along with the black horses, and crows as messenger birds.

He could see their thoughts on their faces, _how dare these criminals think they are as important as the nobles of a prefecture!?_

But that wasn’t really the case. Karasuno coming together on the backs of black horses had been nothing but an odd coincidence. Tanaka thought that it was only fitting, and hilarious, to continue the trend and forge everyone’s armor in black. And the crows had been more of a nuisance than a choice. They could either tame the local murder, or deal with them eating their crops. The former was much more useful.

But, of course, that explanation would not soothe the wrath of a noble family, nor would it ease the fear in their children’s eyes. Suga recognized that look as well: fear of the unknown and fear of danger. He understood that fear, being young and only having seen and admired men in the king’s colors, silver armor and white horses, fetching letters from doves. Being so used to them, then seeing a group in black with birds that plagued farmers and ate the dead couldn’t be a comforting sight.

Once again, he saw his neighborhood children in these nobles’ kids. He saw the rich from his town, with him, and they wandered too close to the edge of the town. They saw some mercenaries with big, ugly scars and a collection of weapons. Suga remembered wondering, the first time he ever saw a mercenary, if they would attack him if he looked them in the eye.

He remembered the fear.

He never thought he would be the source of it.

He was still in shock when they were stopped by guards and servants on the castle grounds, their horses escorted to the stables and their things whisked off to their rooms. Takeda led the crows inside to the great hall, where the king stood at the end of the room with the Regent Cleric and a team of Templars, and another group of misplaced boys looking tired from a long ride sat off to the side.

Ukai greeted Karasuno when they all finished filing into the room.

“Welcome to Sendai!” He said, then motioned to Regent Cleric and the Templars. “This is Oikawa Tooru and my King’s Guard-” Then he pointed at the group at the side of the room. “And that is Nekoma. You’ll be working with them while you’re here. I would give you time to settle in, but there’s so much to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, I have returned from my long absence. I don't even have an excuse this time. I'm just bad at updating, lack motivation, and forget about things more often than I do them. 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me for it. I don't mind.
> 
> But for now, I gift you all with another poorly written chapter. This has parts I'm proud of! But it still feels sub-par to me. Please let me know what you think in the comments! These chapters go up un-betaed, so if you like it or notice mistakes, please let me know!
> 
> Also, everyone who's commented and left kudos: You guys are the best. Literally the best.


	4. Chapter 4

The king selected people from the surrounding groups and ushered them into a council chamber. It wasn’t much of a council chamber really, mostly it was a half hidden closet, a corner room with nothing in it but a table and a plethora of chairs.

Around the table sat representatives of each group. The king and Takeda were at the head with Kiyoko, Oikawa, and the head of the King’s Guard, who Suga vaguely remembered Ukai calling Iwaizumi. The pattern of group leader and corresponding mage continued with Nekoma and Karasuno with the presence of Daichi, Suga, Nekoma’s most powerful mage, Kenma, and Nekoma’s guildmaster, Kuroo. Sage had taken up residence on the table in front of Daichi and Suga, uninvited, but unwilling to miss whatever happened in this small room.

“I know you’re all tired, but there’s much to discuss before I set you all loose. I know you already know why you are here, but I feel it’s important you know the extent of things now.”

“We know about the demons and the terrorized towns in the south, what more could have been done in the time it took us to get here?” Kuroo asked.

“Ushijima’s demons have leveled an entire village since then. There were no survivors. If not for the piles of ash where the buildings once stood, you would have no idea there had ever been a village there at all.”

Suga hummed. “It takes high ranking demons to do that.”

Kuroo nodded. “Rank three or above.”

“Fire types,” Kenma added.

“I’m sure that the longer it takes us to act, the number of leveled villages will increase.”

“I agree,” Daichi said, “But, we don’t know anything about Ushijima’s army. How big is it? What is his highest ranking demon? Does he have contracts with only fire types or are there other elements involved? That information is key to the survival of our own troops. We can’t attack an

enemy we know nothing about.”

“Ushijima is a believer of strength, but how he goes about acquiring it depends on the situation. His numbers could be vast, but mostly made up of low ranking demons, or his numbers could be small but exclusively made of high ranking demons. How we organize our troops should mimic the way he’s organized his, or our we’ll have countless casualties on our side.” Suga explained.

“I could send out reconnaissance teams to investigate, but there’s no guarantee any of them will make it back.” Ukai offered.

“Not to mention we don’t know exactly where Ushijima is. He and his troops rarely stay in one area for long.” Takeda added.

“If I find their location, could you send someone?” Kenma asked.

“Even if you could, they might move again before we can get anyone out there.” Ukai responded.

“No, he can tell you where they will be upon your arrival. He’s clairvoyant.” Kuroo clarified.

Ukai and Takeda exchanged surprised glances. Kiyoko even raised her eyebrows, mumbling “that’s a rare ability.” Kenma dropped his gaze to the table, staring intensely at a notch the wood, embarrassed.

“Um, yes then.” Ukai said. “We could send someone. However, that still doesn’t solve the problem of making sure they make it back.”

“I’d be willing to send a few of my boys with them,” Kuroo offered. “But only under the condition that my boys are the ones in charge. Your spies need to listen to them, or being with them will be useless.”

“Understood.”

“I believe that should conclude the meeting now, Your Grace. There is not much else to discuss until we have more information.” Kiyoko said.

Ukai nodded and everyone stood, dismissed. Iwaizumi left the room without so much as a word, and Oikawa followed close behind him until they reached the door, where Oikawa stopped, waiting. He let Takeda, Kiyoko, Yachi, and Daichi  pass, but as Suga and Kenma left, he grabbed them by the arm and ushered them off to the side.

“I know this is sudden. but I would like to have a chat with you two and the other mages from your um… organizations. Would you mind gathering them and meeting me in the gardens?” Oikawa asked.

Kenma and Suga nodded, and Oikawa beamed, sauntering off in the direction of the gardens. Kenma slipped away as soon as Oikawa was gone, leaving Suga alone to find his friends. He started his search in the guest rooms, hoping his people were trying to settle in. He found Yamaguchi and Tsukishima in their room, rummaging through their things and putting them away in their wardrobe. Suga knocked on the open door before he entered, drawing their attention.

“Hello, Suga.” Yamaguchi said. Tsukishima dipped his head in greeting as Suga waved to them both.

“Hello. Are you busy right now, Yamaguchi? I need to borrow you for a while.”

Yamaguchi looked to Tsukishima, who shook his head and said, “You can go. I’ll finish this on my own.”

Yamaguchi nodded and followed Suga out.

“By the way, do you know where Ennoshita went?” Suga asked.

“I think Tanaka and Nishinoya forced him to go exploring with them. They wanted to find the kitchen, if I remember correctly.”

And  just as Yamaguchi said, they found Ennoshita in the kitchen, looking somewhat mortified as he watched Tanaka harass the cooks about giving him snacks while they attempted to stop Nishinoya from stealing things from the cabinets.

Ennoshita had never looked so thankful to see Suga.

“Thank the gods for your existence, Sugawara.”

The three got a bit lost on their way to the gardens, but found it in their wandering. Kenma and his fellow Nekoma mage were already there, standing next to Oikawa, who had taken up residence on a small stone bench. He waved enthusiastically when he noticed the Karasuno mages approaching.

“Sorry for any inconvenience,” He said. “I just wanted to get to know you all. After all, we will be spending quite a bit of time together until this war is over.”

“It is no inconvenience, trust me.” Ennoshita commented. Oikawa chuckled, a sound that struck Suga as somehow seductive.

“Well, I’m Oikawa Tooru, Regent Cleric, healer, conjurer, wind elemental. Who are you?”

“Ennoshita Chikara. I’m a conjurer, enchanter, and electricity elemental.”

Oikawa shifted his eyes over to Yamaguchi. “Um, I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi. I’m a destroyer, conjurer, and fire elemental.”

Oikawa went around the group, looking at who he wanted to speak next. _Sugawara Koushi, dark mage, healer, ice elemental. Kozume Kenma, psychic, destroyer, water elemental. Yaku Morisuke, psychic, destroyer, earth elemental._

“So did you actually call us out here for a meet and greet?” Yaku asked.

“Of course not! I called you out here to warn you. I had to learn the hard way that there’s a divide amongst the Templars. The older ones aren’t that bad. Don’t act stupid and they won’t bother you. But the younger ones… They’re still bitter or ignorant and they’ll be _looking_ for something wrong with you. Be careful around them. Except Kindaichi, I suppose. He’s too busy running Iwaizumi’s errands to be bothered by you.”

“How come the older ones don’t mind us?”

“It’s mostly Iwaizumi. He’s conditioned the older ones to not mind. He just hasn’t had enough time with the greenhorns to teach them his ways.”

“Anyone else we should look out for?” Ennoshita asked.

“No one _else_. But one of the new Templars, Kyoutani, look out for him. He’s a bit of a troublemaker and has issues with authority.”

“It sure is kind of you to let us know this,” Yaku said.

“I’m just looking out for my own kind,” Oikawa sneered, squinting at Yaku’s distrust. “You won’t find that very often in the capital. If you ever need anything, anything at all, whether it’s books, supplies, advice, I don’t care. _Come to me_. Don’t ask the Templars, don’t ask any of the castle employees, and _don’t_ go into town. Just come to me.”

Suga wanted to ask about the warning, ask what he meant. What was so dangerous about town? But Oikawa could see the question forming on Suga’s lips and made eye contact with him, shake his head just slightly, enough for Suga to see but small enough that someone from the outside wouldn’t notice. Oikawa then turned back to Yaku to answer one the Nekoma mage’s random questions. Suga’s question died on his tongue.

The exchange was odd, Suga thought. Oikawa openly told them not to go into town, but felt like he couldn’t shake his head, an action that, from a distance, could have looked like the answer to a simple question. Suga felt a chill run down his spine.

Was someone watching them?

Suga knew that if someone was, it was best for him to act like he knew nothing, so he didn’t look around or act out of place. He smiled and talked with everyone like they were all having a normal conversation.

He just hoped that if someone _was_ keeping an eye on them, their conversation looked normal _enough_.

Nothing seemed to happen as everyone slowly pulled out of conversation. Yaku and Kenma left, saying they should check on the rowdier members of their guild. That reminded Ennoshita of Tanaka and Nishinoya, and he promptly sprinted back to kitchens, hoping the two had given up on acquiring snacks while he was away. Yamaguchi excused himself not long after, mumbling something about not wanting to leave Tsukishima alone any longer.

So Suga was left alone with Oikawa, trying to come up with an excuse leave. Before he could think of one, Oikawa stood and turned to Suga, his face bright but focused.

“Sugawara, if you’re not busy after this, could I show you something?”

“Sure.”

Oikawa gestured for Suga to follow him and led him inside. They walked down several corridors and up a flight of stairs before Suga felt a tingle run down his spine and his hairs stand on end. He could smell potions brewing nearby, some of which were sweet and some of which made his nose burn.

Oikawa took him to a room, one of only two in that hall. It was a laboratory of sorts, messier than Suga had ever seen, with alchemy and enchanting supplies strewn across the room and small bowls sitting over low flames on the counter. Suga immediately pinpointed them as the source of the oppressive smell that leaked into the hallway.

Oikawa motioned for Suga to sit on a stool in the corner by the door. He then sat down in a chair across the room from Suga, placed his hands in his lap, and blinked a few times as he was waiting on Suga to speak.

“Um, did you want to show me som-”

“You’re dating a human.”

“Um, yes? I know it’s not recommended-”

“Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I’ve tried it myself. Dating mundanes is actually quite nice. What I mean to ask has more to do with his sake rather than yours. Why did you agree to come here?”

“I wouldn’t have, but I was told by dragons that coming here was the road to redemption.”

“I’m not usually one to argue with the wisdom of dragons, but I’m not a dark mage and even I know that the road to redemption for mages usually ends in an unpleasantly large fire.”   

"I made my choice already. I listened to the dragons when I could have ignored them. Now I just have to hope that was the right choice."

He said that, but he could still feel a weight settle on his chest, apprehension crawl up his throat. He hoped coming here would spell good things, but he knew that may not be the case. Some of his family were meant for execution just for existing. If he could keep them safe, everything would be okay. But if in the end, his dark magic condemned him, he didn't want to drag the people he loved down with him. It was his own fault if he was punished, but he wouldn't put that fate on his family.

“Don’t worry too much,” Oikawa said cheerily, attempting to lighten the mood. “There’s probably a reason you’re here, and I doubt it’s to die.”

~

Daichi stood at the edge of the pit, next to Kuroo and Iwaizumi. They watched the soldiers mull about the dirt sparring ring, stopping on occasion to watch Tsukishima and Yamamoto fight. Asahi and Narita sat on the side lines, Asahi looking sick and Narita jabbing his friend in the side, most likely pestering him about placing bets.

The fight was brief, ending in only a few minutes. Tsukishima blocked a swing from Yamamoto, who staggered back, and Tsukishima knocked away Yamamoto’s sword.

“Tsukishima doesn’t go on the offensive very often does he?” Iwaizumi asked.

Daichi shrugged. “It’s his style.”

“Is that style good for killing demons?”

“It has been in the past.”

Kuroo perked up. “You have experience?”

“Everyone from Karasuno does. Demons hung around our village more often than I’d like to admit.”

“Dark mage thing?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Yeah. They’re drawn to dark mages.”  

Kuroo nodded. “Demons like _all_ mages, but dark mages are a little more popular.”

“Of course,” Iwaizumi sighed. “We’re going to have a lot of them slinking around the castle, aren’t we?”

Kuroo and Daichi exchanged glances, then laughed.

“Yes, you will.” Kuroo said. “But you would have anyway since you are at war with a demon army.”

“Though I guess having a dark mage around will increase the frequency of appearances,” Daichi added.

“Great. I’m an expert on mages, not their otherworldly brethren, so do tell me what I should expect to wake up to in the middle of the night.”

“There are five ranks of demons, three sub-ranks to each rank, and seven elements to each sub-rank. All you really need to know for now is that you won’t _die_ if you meet a rank one or two. You definitely will if you meet a rank three or higher. Unfortunately for you, it takes a few years to learn how to identify the different types of demons, so you’ll have no idea what you’re looking at before you die. You’re pretty much fucked.”

“Everything you just said made me feel so much better about this war. Thanks a lot.”

Daichi and Kuroo laughed and slapped Iwaizumi on his back.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Daichi said, “They say the average adult mage’s power is equivalent to that of a rank three demon. Circle mages are equal to a rank four; and the Regent Cleric can either be rank four or five.”

Iwaizumi nodded, some of the fear draining out of him. He’d been trained to control- and execute- mages since he was a kid. He could handle a few demons. Having two groups of experienced demonslayers around was a big plus, but he couldn’t help wonder _exactly how many_ demons the average mage attracted. If it was a lot, how many demons would the presence of a dark mage bring to Sendai? Did they have enough demonslayers to handle what was coming for them, or would they be shorthanded on their day of reckoning?

“Do your worrying now,” Daichi whispered. “When the time comes, we’ll have to deal with what we have. If it’s not enough, so be it.”

“Come what may, and I pray it comes.” Kuroo assented.

“You guys are talking like we’re going to die.”

“Eh,” Kuroo shrugged. “We probably will.”

“Whether we’re more likely to live or die doesn’t matter much to me. I’ve got people to protect. I don’t have time to die just yet.” Daichi countered.

“Neither do I,” Iwaizumi agreed.

The three fell silent, their gazes falling back on the commotion in the pit. Yamaguchi had arrived at some point in their conversation and was talking with Tsukishima off to the side. Kinoshita had wormed his way into the group as well and had joined forces with Narita, helping him harass Asahi, whose eyes had grown glossy and looked ready bolt the moment someone moved too quickly.

_I might not have been the best influence on them_ , Daichi thought as he watched Narita poke Asahi in the arm. Asahi turned toward Daichi and stared at him as if to say “this is your fault. You did this.”

Yamamoto was joined by the Nekoma mages. Kenma was staring intently at a beetle that was scuttling around near his feet, and Yaku and Yamamoto were talking animatedly about something or other.

Daichi smiled.

He definitely did not have time to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everybody! Once again I've been gone for a long time with no excuses except laziness.   
> This chapter slightly shorter than the last few. Mostly because I felt like I had been gone too long and wanted to get this chapter out asap.  
> I hope you all can forgive me for my inability to do things on a schedule. I'm very sorry.  
> Also, this is, once again, unbeta'd. Please excuse any mistakes.  
> To everyone whose been commenting: Your comments are lovely <3 Thank you so much for everything you all have said. You guys are the only real reason I pushed myself to get this chapter out.  
> You guys are the best.


	5. Chapter 5

Living at Karasuno had a familiarity to it, like maintaining a machine you'd worked with for years. There was a sense of routine, even on days that routine was disrupted. Even on days not much could be done, everyone felt like they'd accomplished something just by doing mundane things. 

The capital didn't work the same way. The first few days in the castle were weighed down with a lack of things to do. Suga spent most of his time getting to know people and having a series of grim conversations with the king. He told himself that that was okay, he  _ had  _ actually done something, but he couldn't escape the feeling that was more to be done. 

Oikawa had become Suga's source of both intellectual and casual discussion, a distraction from the daily boredom. They'd already passed the last couple of days with pleasant conversation, but the feeling of having not done anything caught up with him come the end of the day. 

Yet he still found himself settled in the corner of Oikawa's laboratory, reading while Oikawa crafted potions. They rarely started off talking. Suga got too into his research on binding spells to thread, and Oikawa went into a semi-trance due to the repetition of the process of making dozens of the same potion. 

“I knew Ushijima, you know.”

Suga looked up, his eyebrows raised. “Hm?”

“I met him back when he hadn't been working at Polaris but for a few years. He was disappointed in me for not studying at a Mage school. He thought I was too good to have only studied with a master.”

Suga chuckled. “Yeah. That sounds like him.”

“He wanted me to study at Polaris. You should've seen the disappointment in his face when I told him I’d already accepted a position as the Regent Cleric.”

Suga rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he was rather rude about.”

Oikawa shrugged. “Yes, but I could never tell if he was rude and didn’t notice or if he was rude but didn’t care. For a long time, I thought it was the latter. Thinking about it now, I’m not so sure.”

“He was always like that when I was in school too. I think it’s a mixture of the two. Sometimes he doesn’t mean it, sometimes he does.”

Oikawa nodded, and for a moment, they fell into silence. Oikawa filled several jars with a pinkish fluid and Suga watched, unsure of what else to say. Oikawa began mixing a white powder with the fluid, turning the contents a deep red color. Suga couldn’t help but notice that the potions now looked like blood.

“What do you think of Templars?” Oikawa asked as he put the vials of red liquid in a cabinet. 

Suga bit at his lip, considering the question for a moment, before saying, “I think that they are misguided. I see why people feel the need to have them around, but that still doesn’t make me feel any better about them breathing down my neck all the time.”

“Did…” Oikawa started. He paused, drawing in a breath. “Did you ever find out who outed you all? How did the Templars even find out that any of you were dark mages?”

“No, I didn’t. I’ve been wondering for years if someone told them or if something happened that tipped them off. I don’t know what happened.”

“I”m not a dark mage but I still get this feeling sometimes… Like something’s wrong, things are out of balance or something. I spent a long time as a child wondering if there would come a day when all magic will be banned.”

“A friend of mine once told me that there was once a time when magic was neither dark nor light. True evil or good came from the heart of the user, and all magic was the same. All these classifications we have now were developed over time. So, everyone who hates dark mages so much needs to remember that we all came from the same place.”

“All mages were once regular people anyway.” 

~

Daichi and Ukai had not talked much since Karasuno arrived in the capital. They hadn’t needed to. Ukai had work to do, meetings to attend, paperwork to finish, citizens to take care of. Daichi hadn’t found the time to see the king. He spent much of his time during the day assessing the small number of soldiers in the army. They both had more important things to do.

There was something on Daichi’s mind, however, that made him take some time to seek out the king. He didn’t care much if he interrupted Ukai’s work, there was something that he needed to know. 

“Do you realize how much I have to do right now? I just got in a new wave of reports from soldiers in the south.” Ukai said, waving Daichi away from his desk. He went to slide his ink closer to him, but Daichi grabbed the inkwell and put it out of Ukai’s reach.

“I need you to promise me something.”

Ukai looked up at Daichi. “You crows don’t have a good understanding of authority, do you? What do you want?”

“I want insurance. I want to be sure that when we take care of your problem, you don’t turn on us. I’m not going to pretend we’re innocent, sinless people. I just want to be sure that you don’t try to arrest us for any past crimes once our usefulness wears thin.”

“Are all criminals this paranoid?” Ukai huffed. “I do have some dignity, you know? I asked for your help, it would be wrong for me to punish you after you helped me.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“You’re scared for Sugawara, aren’t you?”

Daichi tsked. “I’m scared for all of them. My entire family is here, and some of them have really bad records.”

“I promise you, I won’t do anything to harm your people when this all over.”

Daichi nodded at the king, bowed, and left.

~

Daichi spent the rest of his afternoon with the soldiers and some of the guys from Nekoma. The group spent a while sparring. Daichi won his fights easily. He was a bit disappointed in the lack of a challenge, but he wasn’t surprised. These army boys weren’t the best warriors, and Daichi was known for playing dirty. Nekoma, on the other hand, put up a good fight. His tricks didn’t get passed them as easily, most likely because they used to demons getting creative with them.

When the fighting was done, Daichi took a seat at the edge of the field, on a stool near a short table covered in cloths and knives. 

“Where did you learn how to fight like that?” Kuroo asked as he plopped down on the stool next to Daichi.

“Street fights,” Daichi replied. 

Kuroo raised his eyebrows. “Really? You don’t seem like the street fighting type.”

Daichi shrugged. “Eh. It’s been a while. Haven’t been in a real fight against a person since Suga and I made Karasuno. You see more demons in the middle of the woods than you do people.”

Kuroo hummed. “How could that stop you from fighting people?”

“It didn’t really. Actually, a fight is what started Karasuno. I was at a tavern, some guy dumped sake on my head and I’d had a bad day. I fought him, nearly killed him. I skipped town and hoped nobody would come looking for me. I ended up getting a job at a mine a few towns over. I didn’t know shit about mining. My boss hated me. I met Suga while getting yelled at for bringing malachite to my boss. He didn’t want anything but silver and had never seen malachite before. He was about to fire me when Suga walked up and told him what I was holding, and how much some mages are willing to pay for even a small amount of it. He saved my job, but it didn’t really matter much since a few months later, Suga and I left town and fixed up an old abandoned cabin we found in the woods.”

“And then for some reason you guys let a group of fugitives move in with you. I’m sure that’s how every village starts.”

Daichi laughed. “Not quite. Suga’s just too nice for his own good. When he found someone he thought needed help, he brought them home. I already couldn’t say no to him, but this was like a kid who had already bonded with a pet or something. I let him do what he wanted. Everyone once in awhile he came home with someone new, and four years and a village later, I had somehow adopted ten children.”

“So that’s how the somewhat infamous Karasuno started. Kind of lackluster, Daichi.”

Daichi scoffed. “Only  _ somewhat  _ infamous?”

“Only a few nobles and the people close to them have heard of you. And they all thought you were some sort of criminal guild hiding in the woods, planning something terrible. But, apparently, that terrible thing was never going to come.”

“No, that’s not what Karasuno was about. It started as me and Suga building a house for our honeymoon, but ended up being a place to start over for a bunch people who needed a second chance. Everyone at Karasuno has done bad things, but… I don’t think any of us are bad people.”

Kuroo nodded.

“Most people are good inside, but to see it you have to give them a second chance.”

~

Ennoshita followed after Tanaka with newfound energy, with purpose. Tanaka was finally being shown the smithy, which the blacksmith happily let him take over, and he had asked Ennoshita to come along with him to see it. Ennoshita made a note to thank the blacksmith later for allowing Tanaka to use his workplace. 

The smithy itself was huge. Everything in was bigger than Tanaka’s back home, and though he didn’t know what most of the equipment was, Ennoshita could tell by the look on Tanaka’s face that the equipment’s quality was better than what Tanaka had at home too. There was a lot more open space and storage than Ennoshita was used to, but Tanaka seemed thankful to be able to move around so easily. The metal stocked in the storage out back nearly brought tears to Tanaka’s eyes.

“I want to show Saeko this one day.”

“You will one day,” Ennoshita said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. He had known Tanaka for nearly four years, but still didn’t know much about his sister. Tanaka didn’t talk about her much, and had not seen her in years. He’d already been a few years without her when Ennoshita met him. All Ennoshita knew was that one of Tanaka’s main goals was to find his sister again. She was the only family Tanaka ever had, and he thought showing her his smithing skills was a good way to make her proud when he found her. She taught him everything she knew.

Ennoshita wanted to meet her himself. He was sure that without Tanaka, he’d probably be dead, and someone who meant that much Tanaka was someone he wanted to meet. 

Tanaka walked over to the equipment and began fiddling with all of it, his eyes wide and mouth pulled into a large smile. Ennoshita smiled watching him. He looked so happy, in awe of the quality of the smithy. Ennoshita knew that nothing could beat Tanaka’s place back in Karasuno, but this stuff was amazing. Tanaka looked like he was on top of the world. It reminded Ennoshita of what he used to look like before they moved to Karasuno.

_ It’s strange to think a mistake landed me here,  _ he thought. A mistake. Ennoshita once considered himself a boring person, someone who didn’t take risks and couldn’t make mistakes. He probably should have known better. Such interesting people wouldn’t be interested in him without  _ something  _ being off. He should have seen it coming.

His name was  Haruto, and Ennoshita considered him his one and only mistake in life. They’d been dating for months before Ennoshita and Haruto’s wife found out about each other. She was furious and Ennoshita was heartbroken. He felt like there was something amiss the whole time, but never questioned it. He was so stupid. 

Things were fine at first. He broke it off with Haruto, and his wife left Ennoshita alone. That is, until she learned that Ennoshita was a mage. Mages weren’t common in Ennoshita’s hometown, and Haruto’s wife grew up in a strict anti-magic household. She hated all mages, dark or light, and the thought of a mage sleeping with her husband made something in her snap. 

She was stronger than she looked. She was able to pin Ennoshita down in an alleyway one night. The rock he picked up was intended to hurt her, but he hadn’t been aiming for her temple. He wanted her off of him. He didn’t want to kill her.

Haruto knew it was Ennoshita. He didn’t turn Ennoshita in, but Ennoshita still left town. If he could admit to any other mistake, it was leaving so suddenly. He didn’t take anything with him, and he ended up on the streets for a while, until Tanaka found him. Tanaka, who already had a bounty on his own head for stealing expensive jewelry and art from several noble families. Tanaka, who didn’t seem to mind being friends with a murderer. Tanaka, who didn’t mind reminding Ennoshita where he was when he closed his eyes and could only hear the sound of that rock smashing into that woman’s head. 

“Hey,” Tanaka called, waving at Ennoshita. “What are you thinking about?”

Ennoshita dragged himself out of his thoughts and focused on Tanaka. His friend was staring at him from the stool behind the grindstone, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“Nothing. I just zoned out for a minute.”

Tanaka raised one his eyebrows. He didn’t look convinced. “Okay, but don’t think too hard. You could yourself.”

“The only person here who could hurt themselves by thinking too hard is you.”

“That was low.”

Ennoshita laughed and Tanaka pouted. When Ennoshita quieted down, Tanaka started looking through the cabinets in the storage area, taking inventory of the tools, ingots, and ores the blacksmith had collected. Ennoshita sat in a chair off to the side of the room and watched his friend. 

They spent quite some time doing this, making idle conversation as they did. A little later into the afternoon they had a visitor. Suga  knocked on the beam of the entryway as he entered the room Tanaka and Ennoshita were in.

“Hi there, Suga.” Ennoshita greeted. Tanaka did the same from the floor.

“Hello,” Suga greeted in return. He smiled at the two. “This might be sudden, but I have a favor to ask. It’s something only you two specifically can do.”

“Anything for you,” Tanaka said.

“There’s not a single crow around that can say no to you, Suga.” Ennoshita added.

Suga’s cheeks reddened slightly and he smiled again, wider than before, and mumbled a quiet “thank you.”

“So, what is it you need from us?”

Suga straightened up then, his smile dying down and his blush fading. His face turned serious.

“I need you to make me a weapon.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, I have returned from my long absence. I don't even have an excuse this time. I'm just bad at updating, lack motivation, and forget about things more often than I do them. 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me for it. I don't mind.
> 
> But for now, I gift you all with another poorly written chapter. This has parts I'm proud of! But it still feels sub-par to me. Please let me know what you think in the comments! These chapters go up un-betaed, so if you like it or notice mistakes, please let me know!
> 
> Also, everyone who's commented and left kudos: You guys are the best. Literally the best.


	6. Chapter 6

_ Something is watching us.  _

Something that could see but couldn't hear. It was a fact that Suga didn't think about often, but the feeling was always there, in the back of his mind. He saw it in Oikawa too, how cautious the Regent Cleric was in some places and with some people. He did not see it, however, with Kiyoko. 

Suga had spent quite some time with Oikawa and occasionally met with the other mages, but he had not spent time with Kiyoko. She found him Oikawa’s lab early in the morning, asked if he would take a walk with her, and they went down to the castle gardens. 

She didn't have the same tension in her shoulders that Oikawa did. Even the Nekoma mages seemed to feel the eyes on them. Suga wondered if perhaps Kiyoko hadn't noticed yet, or if she was simply the best actor in the castle. 

“I suppose it was a bit rude of me to not come and talk to you until now,” Kiyoko said. 

“It's alright. You've been busy helping Takeda-san with the reports from the field.”

“Not to mention writing my own reports for the Circle.”

“I'm the one who should've come to you.”

“Don't worry yourself over it. We can make up for lost time now... I found you once, a few years ago. By then, you had already started building Karasuno. So, tell me, how'd you meet Daichi?”

Kiyoko grinned at Suga. He rolled his eyes. 

“After I ran from Polaris, I drifted for a few months. Went from town to town, and Daichi happened to be in one of them.”

“What about the others? I've been wondering what made you want to live with criminals.”

Suga sighed and pointed to a small stone bench. He and Kiyoko sat down on the bench, which was under a large almond tree that shaded them from the sun. Kiyoko watched as Suga tilted his head back to look up into the boughs of the trees. 

“They're not bad people,” he said. “I know most people here probably don't trust us. I know why they can't. I just… I wish we could be who we are and not have to worry. They're family, Kiyoko, and I have to plan trips into certain towns because my kids can't go there because of a bounty placed on them years ago.”

“I'm sorry. I know you love them all very much.”

Suga shook his head. “You don't have to apologize. I understand why you asked. No matter how much I trust them, I can't force others to trust them.”

“What's it like? At Karasuno, I mean.”

“It's home. We’ve got everything we need out there: land, houses, family, isolation.”

“It must have taken quite some time to make it perfect.”

“Yeah,” Suga chuckled. “We added on every time someone new moved in until we our own little town in the woods.”

“I was worried about you. I wondered where you were for so long, then I found you and kept on worrying because of the company you were keeping.”

“I worried about you too. I wondered if you ever made it to the Circle. I'm glad to see you accomplished your goal.”

“The Circle is nice. A bit more boring than I expected, but I've learned a lot and met some great people.”

“Like your assistant?”

“Yes, Yachi. She's very sweet and helpful. In fact, I'm here because she insisted she would take over my work for a while.”

“Remind me to thank her sometime then.”

“I will.”

Suga and Kiyoko stayed under the tree for a while, talking about anything that came to mind. Suga could feel the eyes on him the whole time, but he hoped that whatever, or whoever, was watching would leave alone. 

~

Later in the morning, Kiyoko went back to her study and Suga met with Daichi, Asahi, and Tsukishima. The four of them met with Ukai, Takeda, Kuroo, and Kenma to discuss their plans for dealing with Ushijima. 

The meeting started with simple formalities and a basic rundown of what the reports had been saying. Kenma sat off to the side, his hands on his lap, palm up. His eyes were closed. A map sat in front of him. 

“I’ve decided that I'll send Yamamoto and Inouka with a group of your soldiers to find Ushijima. As soon as Kenma has predicted his next move, they'll be ready to go.” Kuroo said. 

“We can have a group ready by sundown. I'll let you know who we get.” Ukai said. 

Takeda cleared his throat. “Ah, Sugawara, I was wondering if you've come up with a plan for fighting the demons.”

Suga nodded. “Fire is a tricky element, but it works the same for light mages and demons. It's weak against water, ice, and air. Though, in this situation, it may be best to fight fire with fire.”

“How exactly does one fight fire with fire?”

“Dark fire is a thing. My natural element is ice, so I'm not too sure how well I can use any form of fire, but I have my people working on it.”

“Aren't there technically dark versions of all elements?” Kuroo asked. 

“Yes, but they don't quite work like the light versions. Dark ice would actually fuel light fire. But dark fire is more effective at fighting light fire than light ice is.”

“What about Ushijima himself?” Takeda asked. 

“I've got a plan for him too, but it's also not full proof. I still have a bit more research to do before I invest in using this method.”

“I'm guessing discussing it isn't an option yet?”

Suga shook his head. “Not with you anyway.”

Kenma stood up then, an area marked on a map. He placed it in the center of the table and pointed at the place he circled. 

“He’ll be in Kitagawa Daiichi. Right now he's near the border of Yukigaoka, but he needs to go further southeast. He's looking for something, but I'm not sure what.”

“Do you know how he'll get there?” Kuroo asked. 

Kenma shrugged. “He’ll probably avoid main roads and large towns.”

“Based on his current travel patterns, he might sack some small towns along the way.”

Ukai furrowed his eyebrows and tapped the map. “What's in this area?”

“Uh,” Tsukishima started, his face scrunched up. “I remember Kageyama saying something about his old job. He was scouting in the woods way south of the Kitagawa capital city. He saw some weird shit down there, but I didn't care enough to ask what it was.”

“Lots of dark mages gather in the wilds in the south. It's harder to find people down there than it is up north. It was probably some sort of altar or relic.”

Asahi, who had not yet contributed the meeting, looked paler than usual. He scratched at his beard, worried. “If he is looking for something in a place full of dark mages, he could get more powerful?”

Both Kenma and Suga shrugged. 

“It's possible,” Suga said. “Our biggest priority should be getting a reconnaissance team down there as soon as possible. We need to know what he's looking for.”

“We'll get on that right away, then.” Ukai said.

Everyone got up at that, and went their separate ways. 

~

Hinata felt like he was never going to get used to how big the castle was. How could forget which hallway he went down so quickly? He needed to feed the crows, and had gone to the kitchens to collect their food, but somehow forget which way he'd gone to get there. 

He stood at the end of a hallway that branched off in two directions, his head turning back and forth as he tried to decide which to go. He drummed his fingers on the bucket he was holding. Fidgeting was his way of calming his nerves. 

He was just about to go left when Kenma turned the corner at the end of the hall 

“Ah! Can you help me?” Hinata called. 

Kenma flinched at the red-head’s volume. “Um, sure?”

“Which way do I go to get back to the bedrooms? I need to feed the crows.”

“Right.”

“Thanks! You're from Nekoma, right?”

“Yes.”

“Cool! You've only got two mages in your guild?”

“Yeah. Yaku and myself. You guys have three?”

“Mhm! Suga, Yamaguchi, and Ennoshita. I'm Hinata, by the way!”

“I'm Kenma.”

“Nice to meet you Kenma. Now I really need to go and feed my birds. I’ll talk to you again soon?”

“Uh… sure?”

“Awesome! Bye!” 

Hinata ran off then, before Kenma could say his own goodbye. Kenma watched Hinata go and felt himself lose energy, as if he had just been stuck out in the sun for hours. He wondered for a moment if Hinata had some unrealized power but decided it was unlikely. It probably wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on him anyway.

~

Kiyoko had not gone to the meeting that morning, so she extended her break instead. Yachi did not mind doing a bit more work than usual. She always liked being helpful and thought that Kiyoko should take some time to relax. Her nerves, of course, led her to believe that Kiyoko could die of stress if she didn’t relax, so Kiyoko took her up on her offer. 

A quiet stroll around the castle grounds worked out the stiffness from her joints. She hadn’t yet gotten a chance to explore the grounds and found quite a few interesting things. Oikawa claimed part of the gardens as his and used the plot of land to grow ingredients for his potions.The king kept his messenger doves in an aviary instead of cages. Kiyoko’s personal favorite discovery was that parts of the grounds were not well kempt, and she found alcoves along the castle where the grass grew tall, vines climbed the walls, and wildflowers bloomed in the sunny spots. 

The people were much less interesting. Kiyoko wasn’t one to talk much, but even she was willing to stop to make conversation for the sake of politeness. Most of the castle staff didn't even acknowledge her as she passed them. Everyone was so busy. 

Well, everyone except Tanaka and Ennoshita. 

She found those two in the yard near the smithy. Tanaka had some black substance on his hands, like oil or soot, and was chasing Ennoshita around. 

“Chiiikaaaraaaa!” Tanaka was smiling wide, all teeth, and wiggling his fingers. Ennoshita managed to look both amused and terrified. 

“I swear to the gods, Ryuu, if you get that shit on me, I will electrocute you.”

Tanaka laughed and lunged at Ennoshita, who squealed like a child and dodged his friend. But, he dodged in the wrong direction and cornered himself between some forging equipment. He looked around for an escape and saw Kiyoko. 

“Wait, Ryuu, seriously. We've got a guest.”

Tanaka turned around, and when he laid eyes on Kiyoko, he dropped his hands and his creepy smile. 

“Hello, Kiyoko-san!”

“Hello… What do you have on your hands?”

Tanaka laughed awkwardly and looked down, like he was only ashamed of it because Kiyoko was there. “I, uh, dipped my hands in a bucket of really thick oil that I found.”

“That's…”

“Gross?” Ennoshita offered. 

“Yes.”

Ennoshita smacked Tanaka on the head. “Go wash your hands.”

Tanaka nodded and walked off, his head still hung low. Ennoshita rolled his eyes. 

“Don't mind him. He's an idiot.”

Kiyoko hummed. “You guys seem to be the only people here that aren't busy.”

Ennoshita scoffed. “We  _ were  _ busy until he got the oil idea.”

“What are you busy with? Your people had perfectly good weapons and armor from what I saw.”

“We're working on something for Suga. We would be done soon, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the enchantment he needs placed on it.”

“Oh? Perhaps I could help.”

“Ah, I'm…. Uh, not supposed to tell anyone what we're making for him.”

“Oh, I see. I'll leave you to it then.”

“That would be great.”

“Have a nice day.” 

“You too.”

Kiyoko continued the way she had been going before, but tension had returned to her. What could Suga possibly need that he would have to keep a secret? She had ideas of weapons dark mages were notorious for crafting, but none of them required a blacksmith. Stones of power, talismans, rune stones, and curses could all be made by the hand of the mage. 

So what could those boys possibly be forging for him?

~

Iwaizumi was not the suspicious type, and as a high ranking Templar, he prided himself on his open-mindedness. Perhaps he’d grown complacent working with only Oikawa for so long, but now he had the feeling he didn’t know enough. Karasuno threw him through a loop and for no reason other than he didn’t know them  _ enough _ .

It wasn’t a feeling he remembered ever feeling before, let alone with people he knew were criminals. He had no reason to believe they were trying to do anything other than redeem themselves. Maybe, he thought, his feeling stemmed from the fact that he had no idea what their crimes were. Sugawara was obvious, but the others? Ukai seemed to know something about them, but whatever he knew, he hadn’t passed along to Iwaizumi.  

So Iwaizumi went into town that night, to a tavern in a sketchy corner of one of the poorer districts. He had a friend that frequented the tavern. To the locals, this guy wasn’t anything unusual, just some guy who comes in for a drink every once in awhile. To Iwaizumi, he was shocking the first time he’d ever seen him. The guy stood a head taller than anyone Iwaizumi had met before. His white hair was was pretty out there too, but most people couldn’t see it. He always sat in the same corner, his feet propped up on a stool and his hood up over his head. 

“Aone,” Iwaizumi said when he walked up the man at the corner table. aone looked up at him and motioned for him to sit.

“What do you need?”

“Information. As always.”

Aone grunted. “Who’re you looking for?”

“Karasuno. Everyone from Karasuno. I need as much information as you have.”

Aone scoffed and offered Iwaizumi some sake. Iwaizumi declined. 

“Finding information on those guys isn’t easy. I don’t know much about who they are, but the ones with any information aren’t very impressive. The others… I know their names and nothing else. Normally, that spells trouble.”

“I know you don’t just talk to anyone. How much is it going to cost me?”

“Nothing, this time. I don’t have much to say. Kinoshita Hisashi and Narita Kazuhito are petty criminals. A couple charges of theft and vandalism here and there. Sawamura Daichi doesn’t have much going for him either. All I’ve ever heard about him are a few assault charges he got down south. Hinata Shouyou was part of the Yukigaoka branch of the Thieves Guild several years back. Tanaka Ryuunosuke was a big time solo thief. Terrorized the bank accounts of dozens of nobles. Sugawara koushi is a known dark mage. Kageyama Tobio deserted the Kitagawa Daiichi city guard. That’s all I know.”

“You don’t anything at all about the rest?”

Aone shrugged. “I’ve heard the names Ennoshita Chikara, Nishinoya Yuu, Azumane Asahi, and Tsukishima Kei. I don’t know anything about them.”

“Wait. You didn’t mention Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

Aone raised his eyebrows. “That’s a new name.”

“You informants have a tight knit circle. How have you never heard anything about half of these guys?”

“Look, most people have never heard of Karasuno itself. Consider yourself lucky that I gave you anything at all.”

“You can't give me anything else? What did  you mean when you said that not knowing anything about some of them means trouble?”

Aone sighed. The look on his face told Iwaizumi that the informant was nearly fed up with the conversation. Aone never did talk for long. 

“That'll be my last question. I promise.”

“I meant that if no one knows them, they were either part of something nasty, or whatever they did, no one found out about it and they got off because they skipped town.”

“That's it?”

Aone narrowed his eyes. He looked away from Iwaizumi and flagged down a nearby waitress to bring him more sake. He was done talking. 

“Okay,” Iwaizumi said. “Thanks for what you did give me.”

Aone didn't respond. 

Iwaizumi returned to the castle aggravated and tired. He felt like he had more questions now, more than he had before. 

He didn't think crows could be so good at keeping secrets. 

~

Over the past few days, dinner had become I time for socializing. Karasuno and Nekoma gathered together for a meal and mingled amongst each other. Friendships had been made at dinner already, Suga took note of Kenma and Hinata’s new found relationship. He smiled when he saw the two, Kenma watching as Hinata told a story complete with dramatic hand motions. 

Suga took a seat in front of Kuroo. 

“Hinata and Kenma seem to be getting along well.” Suga said. 

“Yeah. That was one relationship I didn't predict.” Kuroo replied. 

“It's nice that they're happy, though.”

“Of course.”

Suga’s eyes flicked back over to the new duo. Kenma’s face was even and he contributed to the conversation in a quiet, unnoticeable manner. 

“Kenma reminds me a bit of an old friend of mine.” Suga said. 

Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Yes. His name was Akaashi. He was very quiet and calm, like Kenma is acting now.”

Kuroo froze. Suga watched the color drain from his face and he put down the drink he had been holding. 

“Um… Are you-?”

“I knew Akaashi. And Bokuto. They were very close friends of mine.”

“You  _ knew _ ? You don’t-” Suga swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. He  _ knew  _ them. Past tense. Suga knew that could mean many things, but he couldn’t stop his mind from jumping straight to the worst case scenario. Akaashi had warned him of danger ahead too many times. “Where are they?”

"Suga, Akaashi and Bokuto are dead. Well, Akaashi is for sure, but no one actually knows what became of Bokuto."

Suga felt his throat clench and his mouth dry up. Dead? He expected this, but actually hearing felt so much different. How long had Akaashi known what was coming? "H-How did…?"

"Bokuto never found out who found out about Akaashi, but someone told Bokuto's superiors that he was harboring a dark mage. As soon as Bokuto heard that his superior's were taking him in for questioning, he knew what was happening and went home, packed up only as much stuff as he and Akaashi would need on the road, and planned on leaving before anyone could get to him.

The night they were supposed to leave, a Templar general shows up on their doorstep. He tells Bokuto that he has a choice, Bokuto could either kill Akaashi there, in their home where no one would see, or he could hand Akaashi over to them, in which case he would've gone through a traditional public mage execution. I'm pretty sure you know-"

"Light mages are hanged and Dark mages are burned at the stake. Yes, I know."

"The general said this was Bokuto's punishment for hiding Akaashi from them. Bokuto didn't want Akaashi to be used as a tool to subjugate other dark mages. He really didn't want him to die a slow, painful death. So he killed him. The Templars didn't let Bokuto keep his body for a funeral. They ended up using him as a tool anyway. They hung his body and the bodies of four of his friends just outside of town. They hung Akaashi in the middle and put a sign around his neck that said 'Dark Mages Be Warned.' The last I saw of Bokuto was when he told me what happened. Then, he just disappeared. Nothing was missing from his house, no one heard from him, no one knew where he was going. He was just… gone."

Suga wiped the palm of hands against his legs, drying the cold sweat that had formed on them. He wondered if Akaashi knew what was coming because Bokuto had been worried about suspicion from his superiors, like Suga remembered him being, or if there was something more there. Suga knew Akaashi's second class was psyche. He should've been able to see an event like that long before it happened. Unless… Suga shook his head. Akaashi couldn't have thought this would be better… Especially since four of his friends died too.

"Did Bokuto tell you who the other four mages were?"

Kuroo nodded. "Konoha Akinori, Semi Eita, Yahaba Shigeru, and Komi Haruki."

Of  course, Suga thought, they all stopped showing up at our meetings at the same time Akaashi stopped.

“Bokuto could still be out there somewhere, can’t he?”

“Yeah, but I always thought it was unlikely. Templars aren’t the type to just let a traitor go.”

Suga nodded, but couldn’t find it in him to just leave it like that. There was a chill lingering around him, and although he knew that Bokuto was likely dead, his mind kept wandering in circles, going back to the idea that the Templar was still out there. Waiting. For what, Suga couldn’t know, but the feeling was there nonetheless.

“No one would know how to hide from Templars better than a Templar.”

Kuroo bit at his lip. He looked reluctant to give himself hope, but soon shrugged. His eyes still said he didn’t believe it, but his muscles had relaxed in a way that showed he wished for it more than he wanted others to know. “I guess.”

“I’m willing to bet that Ushijima knew about them and never told me. Hell, he probably knew the templars were coming after him too.”

“Then… does that mean that if Bokuto is alive, Ushijima knows?”

“Possibly. He may even know where Bokuto is.”

“ _ Fuck. _ ” Kuroo slammed his fist down on the table. The others in the room all whipped around to look at him, but he waved them off. His boys turned away, except for Kenma, who along with Karasuno, lingered on the Nekoma guildmaster and Suga for a moment before returning their meals.

“Don’t panic yet,” Suga said, placing his hand over Kuroo’s fist. “This is all speculation. We don’t actually know anything yet.”

Kuroo swallowed and he looked up at Suga, his eyes glossy. “That’s what scares me.”

“If he’s out there, we’ll find him.”

“Thank you. I, um, I think I’m going to go to bed now. I- Can we talk more later?”

Suga smiled reassuringly as he let go of Kuroo’s hand. “Yes, of course. Get some rest.”

Kuroo nodded and called Kenma, who quickly stood up and set his goodbyes to Hinata. THe two left the dining room and Suga felt like he needed a bit of rest to. He felt as though he had learned nothing new, but his world was still flipped upside down. It was disorienting. He made his way over to Daichi and rested his forehead on top if Daichi’s head. No one paid them any mind, such actions were normal for the two of them, but Suga still felt the need to talk quietly so that only Daichi could hear him. 

“I know it’s not that late, but could we go to bed? I need to talk to you about something and I really need to relax.”

Daichi hummed and leaned back into Suga. “Anything you need.”

“Thank you. I just feel like it best that we talk in private. I don’t want anyone to know about this yet.”

“How serious is this?”

“I have this idea and it may be really,  _ really  _ stupid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again. Me, here, telling you sorry for not updating in many months.  
> Only this time the many months are many many months and I have even less excuses than last time.  
> You guys don't even need to be disappointed in me, because my shame and disappointment in my self is enough to fuel me for a long time.  
> This is unbeta'd and unforgivable. 
> 
> But on the bright (yet not so bright) side, look at all this backstory. Wow.  
> It almost feels like I wrote something semi-important.
> 
> And as always, thank you so so much to everyone whose left comments and kudos so far. You guys are the best. Especially anyone who still cares about this story after so many months of silence from me. I love you guys <3.


	7. Chapter 7

_ Tap, tap, tap _ . 

Kageyama waved his hand near Sage, who was driving his beak into the wooden nightstand next to the bed. Sage squawked at the offending hand and hopped over to the closest bed post, where he cawed right in Kageyama’s ear. 

“Shut up, Sage.” The archer grumbled, shifting down into the covers so he could cover his ears. 

_ Caw! Caw! _

Sage only got louder at the comment. His calls grew more urgent, coming faster and faster. Kageyama peeked out from under his blanket and saw a dim blue light flowing in from the window. He sighed. It was too early for this. 

“Damn it, Sage, why? I want to sleep. Why do you hate me?”

_ Caw. _

“I see how it is.”

_ Caw! _

Kageyama felt shifting to his right. A hand smacked him in the head and he jumped up and glared at Hinata.

“Stop being mean to Sage.”

Kageyama scoffed. “Tell your bird to shut up.”

Hinata sat up then, groaning. “He’s probably got something… To tell us…”

Hinata’s face paled and his eyes grew wide. “Um...” He pointed across the room, to a dark corner. Kageyama followed his gaze.

In the corner of the room, a shadow loomed, its claws dug into the ceiling and walls. It hung upside down, its long, insectoid body curving upward. It didn’t move, even as Hinata slowly slid out of bed, keeping eye contact with it. It rumbled at him, a sound that formed goosebumps on Hinata’s arms, and turned its head to the side like a confused dog. 

Kageyama braced himself for action, sitting up on his haunches in bed, and watched Hinata move toward the weapon rack on the other side of the room. The demon’s beady eyes followed the ginger too, and Kageyama could see its muscles tensing out of the corner of his eye.

“What are you doing, Shouyou?” Hinata waved him off, silencing him. Hinata’s hand hovered over the dagger he’d stored on the rack, and the room came to a stand still. Kageyama held his breath. The demon no longer moved as if it too had stopped breathing. Hinata was frozen in place, eyes wide and unblinking. The air grew stale like it was waiting with rapt attention, apprehension weighing heavy on it. 

Movement came back to them in a flurry of events as Hinata’s hand came down on the dagger. As soon as his fingers touched the grip, the demon pounced. Kageyama launched himself from the bed in response and met the creature halfway, slamming it into the wardrobe. They fell to the floor with a thud and the demon screeched, wiggling underneath Kageyama, trying to shake him off. Hinata jumped into the fray, landing on the creature’s head, baring down on its jaw to keep its mouth close. Hinata stabbed at its neck, but its exoskeleton deflected his blade. The demon rumbled again and squirmed with more vigor. 

Kageyama grabbed its neck and stuck his fingers between two joints, trying to pry the plates open. Hinata pushed all of his weight down on the thing’s head while he waited for Kageyama to form an opening for him. The demon’s legs tapped against the floor, their chitinous armor forcing it to slide, unable to grip the smooth tiles beneath it. Hinata couldn’t help but chuckle at its futile movements. The demon huffed and whipped its tail over its body and grabbed Hinata with the three finger-like appendages on the tip, cutting off Hinata’s laughter. It lifted the boy and threw him against the wall behind it, and took the opportunity to grab Kageyama’s arm when he released the demon’s armor long enough to look at Hinata in worry. It slung Kageyama back up onto the bed, nearly hitting Sage in the process, and skittered over to the door. 

Hinata got himself back up on his feet in time to stab the creature’s tail, his blade sliding between two plates. The end of its tail easily broke off and it screeched again and whipped around to face Hinata. It opened its mouth to scream again and Hinata lunged forward, digging his blade into the back of the demon’s throat. He only pulled his arm back out its mouth when the gurgling sound it made stopped.

He dropped his dagger and stared at his arm in disgust, ignoring the pool of blood forming on the floor beneath the demon’s body. His arm was sticky with saliva and blood. And it  _ stunk. _ He cringed. He would need to scrub that arm to get the stench off.

“I hate creepers. I hate them.” He held his arm away from his face. “Their saliva smells like rot. Holy hell.” 

Kageyama grunted from his position on the bed. Sage was sitting on his stomach, watching him frown. 

“Could you help me out here? It dislocated my shoulder.”

Hinata hummed and hopped over to Kageyama. The archer’s eyes widened when he saw the blood and saliva glistening on Hinata’s arm. The smell made him tear up.

“On second thought!” He shouted, making Hinata jerk back and raise an eyebrow. “Don’t touch me. That’s fucking gross. Go find someone else.” 

Hinata scoffed and slid off the bed. “You’re so picky, Bakageyama.” 

“I thought we moved on from that nickname.”

“Never!”

Hinata sauntered over to the door and exited into the hallway. Kageyama whined at his leisurely pace. “Please hurry! This hurts! A lot!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hinata called from the hall, his voice echoing a bit. He returned a few minutes later with a very groggy, pissed-off Daichi. Kageyama offered Daichi a half-hearted smile. The older man rolled his eyes and sat Kageyama up. He grabbed his shoulder and snapped the joint back into place, laughing a bit at Kageyama's pained face. 

“You couldn’t have been a little more gentle?” Kageyama asked, rolling his shoulder. 

“Shut up,” Daichi said and smacked the boy in the head. Kageyama yelped. Daichi snorted.

“Stop acting like I kicked a puppy, damn. You’ve been shot before, man up.”

Kageyama glared at him and grumbled. He didn’t like being reminded of  _ that  _ particular time in his life. Daichi wasn’t usually the type to bring up old wounds, the literal or figurative kind. That was Suga’s job. Or Tsukki’s. Either way Kageyama still took offense to some of Daichi’s rough treatment at times. At least when he was shot, it was by an enemy. Being manhandled by the people he loved made for a shitty morning.

“I’m not helping you clean that up, by the way.” Daichi pointed at the corpse on the floor. Kageyama frowned at the thought of having to touch that thing. He looked at the pool of stinking blood on his bedroom floor and frowned deeper. He turned to protest only to find Daichi gone already, and his face twisted into a look of dismay that made Hinata slap a hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. His laughter died a second later when he was bent over, retching, after noticing that he had just stifled his laughter with the hand covered in demon fluids. Kageyama felt a pang of pity, partly because Hinata would have to smell the demon stench on his lips for a while and partly because there was no way in hell that Kageyama was touching Hinata until the stink was gone. Hinata was always grumpy if Kageyama didn’t give a good morning kiss.

Later that morning, after Kageyama and Hinata removed the creeper’s body from their room and scrubbed the floor, Oikawa came to set up wards. Having Oikawa around was never fun for Kageyama. He’d only spoken to the mage a few times since Karasuno’s arrival in the capital, and each time ended with the mage insulting Kageyama in one way or another. Kageyama took solace in the way Oikawa’s face paled when he entered the room, his nose scrunching up at the lingering smell. Kageyama had learned to appreciate the little victories over the years.

Oikawa ignored the archer and held out a compass. He placed runes on the walls, one at each cardinal direction. The runes glowed blue as they were written and lingered while Oikawa quietly chanted. Kageyama and Hinata shivered as the air in the room grew cold. Oikawa placed another rune directly in the center of the room, on the floor, and the five symbols pulsed, sparked, and then faded. There was no trace of them left. 

Oikawa smiled. “Well, that ought to keep most demons away. The lower level ones for sure. Next time you fight a creeper, would you do it outdoors? It smells terrible in here.”

Kageyama had to bite his lip to stop himself from picking a fight with the mage.

~

Ukai gnawed his lip and poked a finger through the little bars of the bird cage. The crows inside looked at his finger but didn’t move, uninterested. They seemed lethargic to him, like they were half asleep. They were big crows, well fed, much larger than the ones that scavenged crumbs and litter on the streets in town. These birds were probably the largest crows he’d ever seen, though he had heard from a few friends in the past that they could grow to this size. Birds of this size didn’t like being kept in cages for too long, he knew, but their size had been what made him nervous about setting them free in the first place. He noticed the uncomfortable nervousness of the citizens upon Karasuno’s arrival. The people here were fairly privileged, especially the nobles, and Karasuno’s all black display was still stirring up malcontents among the noble circles. 

Ukai had been afraid, at first, that releasing Karasuno’s crows would only upset the noble houses more. He could hear the now.  _ Those people have a color like some sort of noble guild or city  _ and  _ they’re flying their chosen birds through town? Who do they think they are? _ In any other situation, Ukai might’ve looked down on Karasuno for riding in all black and with crows as if they were representatives from some great order or prefecture, but now he couldn’t care less.The past few weeks had been relatively uneventful and the Karasuno boys were actually growing on him. They fit in well with his own troops, and were doing a good job of whipping the lazy bastards back into shape. He would even admit that watching them mingle with Nekoma was pretty amusing. 

But Ukai felt like he’d forgotten about the impending danger while watching them. He had never considered himself a good king, or a good leader at all really, not like his grandfather, but he still chided himself for needing a creeper attacking someone in his own castle to wake him up. Things had been too quiet for too long. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Attacks like this were bound to happen eventually.

“I know why you don’t want to let them go,” Daichi said from behind Ukai. Daichi wore a grave expression, a look that Ukai had not yet seen on him. “But you need to. They make a good early warning system. Without them, I can guarantee you that more attacks like this morning will happen. The longer we wait, the more powerful the intruders will get.”

_ And the more likely people are to die.  _ Ukai heard the rest of the sentence without Daichi saying it. The king nodded. He understood. He unclasped the cage doors and watched as the birds inside jumped to full attention at the sound. He gave the crows a half smile and opened the doors. THe birds flew out of their confines and spread off in pairs in all directions. They  _ were  _ beautiful birds, Ukai thought, even if the nobles would probably tell him otherwise.

~

_ Not there. _

Suga drew a line through a name on a list he had sitting on the corner of the table. Had cities written on the sliver of paper, half of them with lines drawn through them. There were too many Templars near those cities. He tapped his pen on his lip. If Bokuto was still alive, he would be hiding down south somewhere. Somewhere with few to no Templars and probably a place with a small population. Small villages don’t get news as often or as fast as others. 

There were six prefectures in the country of Miyagi. Shiratorizawa was the largest, to the north. Aoba Josai and Chidoriyama made up the northwest and southwest respectively. Kitagawa Daiichi and Yukigaoka made up the south. And Fukurodani took up the entire east coast. Each prefecture had a capital city of the same name. Sendai was an exception to the rule. As the capital of the country, it acted as the capital of all capitals, and sat close the southern portion of the Shiratorizawa prefecture. The northern part of Miyagi held the highest population of mages and Templars, so Suga narrowed Bokuto’s possible locations down to anywhere south of Sendai.

That gave him only all of Yukigaoka, Kitagawa Daiichi, and part of Fukurodani to search. 

Great.

Suga had a feeling that Bokuto might be able to answer a few questions about Ushijima. That was what Suga focused on. If he got too carried away with his desire to see his friend again, he feared he would let reason fly out the window and he’d just go search for him on foot. He needed to focus on the more pressing issue: the upcoming war. He hoped that maybe with Bokuto’s help, he may even be able to stop the war before it starts. 

All Suga needed to do was  _ find  _ him.

~

Iwaizumi was sure his nose didn’t work quite like it should. He only vaguely remembered the days when he thought Oikawa’s lab smelled weird. Now, he barely noticed the smells at all. He was able to prop his feet up on Oikawa’s desk, much to the mage’s dismay, and talk without feeling the need to cover his nose from the stench of blood or sneeze when the room assaulted him with the smell of flowers and pollen.

“You took more of a liking to Sugawara than I expected you to.”

Oikawa shrugged. “He’s… refreshing. He’s very sweet, but he’s got this melancholy air about him, you know? I just can’t seem to figure him out.”

Iwaizumi snorted. “His whole family’s like that. I asked Aone about them the other day. He doesn’t anything. They’re all a mystery.” 

Oikawa frowned. “Aone never talks to me. He just looks at me with this angry look on his face.”

“That’s how he looks at everyone, it’s just his face. And he doesn’t talk to you because he doesn’t need to. That’s not the point though. The point is that I kind of  _ like  _ those guys. For a bunch of criminals, they’re very friendly. But I still can’t shake that need to  _ know why  _ they’re criminals. What did they all do?”

“Most of them are just petty criminals, right?”

“Well, yeah, but there are some that seem… off to me. Like they’ve got something bigger to hide than the rest. The mages are really interesting. Ennoshita is closer to Suga and Daichi than Yamaguchi is, and Yamaguchi is closer to Tsukishima than anyone else.”

“Is that supposed to be significant?”

“Other than the fact that Aone thinks Ennoshita and Tsukishima are trouble and he’s never even heard of Yamaguchi?”

Oikawa hummed, considering. “Well, I  _ have  _ heard the name Tsukishima before. I don’t see why that would connect back to Tsukki, though. People can have the same last names.” 

“True, but that depends on how much of a coincidence the names are.”

“Many years ago, when I was still training, I stumbled upon some guys in the woods. One of them called out to another, called him Tsukishima. They were all wearing black leather and had a weird symbol on their backs. I tried to look it up, but never found anything on it.”

“Do you think it could’ve been Karasuno’s Tsukishima?”

“Definitely not. This guy was older than me at the time, and I was still a kid.”

Iwaizumi nodded and leaned back in his chair. He was probably making too big a deal about this. Oikawa didn’t seem to care about the crows’ pasts, and maybe he had  the right idea. 

“I don’t know, I’ve just got this weird feeling.” He said.

“You’re a Templar. You’re feelings are always going to be wrong and your opinions suck.”

“Shut up, Shittykawa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have just now noticed a terrible mistake. Apparently, my chapters got out of order because chapter five never posted, and I never noticed. So, I just had to go back and fix that. 
> 
> Now that that's fixed. Here's the real message:
> 
> And I'm back again.  
> I know this chapter isn't the most interesting one so far and it's very short, but it's meant to be more of a transition chapter than anything else.
> 
> I wanted to introduce a few things this chapter. For one, I wanted to actually bring in a demon. There's been lots of talk about them, but you guys haven't gotten to meet one yet. So, I decided to ease the demons in with this chapter. Second, I wanted to explain the layout of the country a little more. I've mentioned the prefectures before, but I never really got around to explaining where they were in relation to one another.
> 
> Also, this chapter brings in more serious topics. So far, the story hasn't progressed much, but the next few chapters start a new arc, I guess you could say. You're going to hear from more characters, hear more backstories, and more stuff is going to start happening. These next few chapters will also be where the graphic depictions of violence comes into play, so look out for that.
> 
> Basically, the rest of the story is going to lose what little innocence it had, starting next chapter.
> 
> Sorry for the late update and thanks for all your support!  
> Love you guys ~<3


	8. Chapter 8

Over the following few days, Ukai was thankful that Karasuno had brought their crows along. The birds had warned of several other low ranking demons attempting to infiltrate the castle. Oikawa set up barriers around the perimeter, but the demons were crafty, and somehow found ways around them. 

It kept everyone on their toes. Once Hinata and Kageyama got the smell of rot out of their room, they still slept lightly, the threat of another surprise greeting them in the mornings keeping them from getting a deep sleep. 

Everyone could only agree on one thing: at least the demons were low ranking. They were smart, but weak. No one had anything to actually fear when the demons were easy to get rid of. So everyone was cautious, but not too anxious.

Kenma didn’t worry much about the demons. He was confident that Nekoma could take of them, and having Karasuno around to help soothed his fears too. However, a different kind of anxiety grabbed hold of him. He had never been one to enjoy being the center of attention, but since the creeper attack, Kenma had been making himself scarce. 

The best way he found to avoid attention was to travel as a cat. There were several cats that hung around the castle, and no one paid them any mind. Shapeshifting was a skill that Kenma had acquired as a young boy. It was one of his favorite abilities, but his parents rarely let him use it. The skill was rare and his parents didn’t want Templars watching him any closer than they needed to.

Darting through the halls as a cat was an experience Kenma wasn’t sure he’d be able to describe to someone else. The sensation of being so low to the ground was foreign enough, but the heightened senses that came with his feline body were what truly made shapeshifting so interesting. Being small allowed him to skirt passed people and fit into small spaces without effort and his sense of smell helped him find places he previously might not have considered venturing to. 

He’d found several hiding spots over the weeks that liked to escape to when he was feeling overwhelmed. He spent most of his time in the spots after a war meeting. Those meetings always put him on edge. As a cat, he felt like he didn’t have to be responsible for others for a while. He could relax, get back to the headspace he needed to be in, then go back to work. As long as no one saw him shift, it was very convenient.  

Rain was the only downside. When a storm blew in, the static built up in his fur. It was possibly one of the most uncomfortable feelings he had ever had. Grooming got rid of the static, but it quickly came back as the amount of electricity in the air rose. Often times, Kenma spent time in the garden since he liked sitting underneath the bushes, but with rain on its way, he opted to stay indoors. 

Indoors could be fun too. Mice scurried away from him, unaware that he had no plans to eat them. Sometimes the maids would stop to pet him, which was weird at first, but he got used to it. Sometimes he snagged food from the kitchen without anyone noticing. He laughed about it, but didn’t do it often. Stealing the snacks always made him nervous. He only did it when felt like he needed to treat himself after a bad day. 

There were times when Kenma found things he didn’t mean to. He learned to steer clear of certain places. Nishinoya and Tanaka got into trouble on a daily basis, and Kenma memorized the places they were commonly found so he could avoid the chaos. He avoided Ukai’s quarters as well. The man was stressed on most days, and stress was something Kenma found contagious. He never went near the bedrooms either. He liked Karasuno. He respected Sugawara and thought of Hinata as a friend, but he only need to see either of them in compromising positions to decide that the bedrooms were totally off limits. He embarrassed himself walking in on people too many times back home, he didn’t need that kind of thing here. 

He had never explored Oikawa’s quarters. The thought hadn’t surfaced yet. Unless he was needed for something, Oikawa rarely left his wing of the castle. His bedroom, lab, and supply room were all clustered together after all. Upon realizing that he had not explored that place yet, Kenma grew curious. Oikawa  _ was  _ the Regent Cleric, the most powerful mage outside of the Circle. Kenma couldn’t help but want to know if he kept any secrets around.

Of all the secrets Oikawa kept, Kenma didn’t want to know about  _ that  _ one.

Why did this always happen to him.

He trotted up the stairs towards Oikawa’s lab, but slowed upon hearing voices. He recognized Oikawa’s voice, but the mage was speaking in a low, breathy whisper. The other voice sounded familiar, but Kenma could not pinpoint exactly who it belonged to. He peeked around the corner cautiously, afraid to turn the corner completely. 

The other voice belonged to Iwaizumi. Kenma had never spoken to the Templar, and never wanted to, but he felt like he’d rather have a lengthy conversation with him then see him like that. The Templar had Oikawa pressed against the wall, his hand holding up the mage’s leg. Oikawa had his hand buried in Iwaizumi’s hair, whispering to him while the Templar’s mouth explored Oikawa’s neck. 

This explained why Kenma often saw Oikawa wearing turtlenecks. 

Kenma sprinted back down the stairs and kept running until he was far from Oikawa’s wing. He knew that Oikawa and Iwaizumi were close, but he’d never guessed they were  _ that  _ close. 

He settled in a corner near the closet he'd hidden his clothes in and closed his eyes, pushing the image out of his head.  _ Don't think about it.  _ He'd rather forget, at least then seeing Oikawa wouldn't be as awkward. 

“That's an impressive ability you have there. I almost didn't realize it was you. I probably wouldn't have, but I have a dark magic radar.”

Kenma jerked his head up at the voice. Sugawara was standing above him, smiling. On anyone else, the look would have been menacing, but Suga looked calm and almost understanding. 

“I cast area of effect spells on myself. I can sense the magic of anyone within a certain distance from me.”

Kenma nodded, unsure of how else to answer. He had never heard of a spell that could do that. But Suga had been taught by a master, it made sense that he would know a few things Kenma didn't.  

Kenma looked around the corner, checking to make sure the two of them were alone. 

“There's no one else around.”

Kenma nodded in thanks and stretched, bones popping as they elongated. His skin tingled, glowing slightly as the fort disappeared and bones shifted. He grunted when his face began to crack and his spine stretched. It didn't hurt so much as it was uncomfortable, but his joints ached for a few minutes after the transformation. 

He waited for the throbbing to fade and then stood up and went into the closet to put his clothes back on. Suga was still standing there when he came out, patiently waiting. 

“Walk with me,” he said, motioning for Kenma to follow him. 

He led Kenma outside to the garden. Kenma never spent much time in the garden. Something about the garden made him feel like he was being watched. 

“It's Ushijima,” Suga said when he saw Kenma look around the garden and shrink. “He has spies everywhere. Mostly birds. Sometimes squirrels or dogs. He knows what we're doing, but we still don't know what he's doing.”

“That puts us at a disadvantage.”

Suga hummed. “That's true, but let's talk about you, shall we?”

“Um… what did you want to know?”

“Does your guild know?”

“Yeah. They won't tell anyone. To the Templars, not speaking is the same as lying, but they're family. They'll stay silent as long as it protects me.”

Suga smiled, but his eyes were dark. “I wish I could've had the option to hide. I wouldn't have had to run so much.”

“I'm sure your family would've protected you too. Karasuno reminds me a lot of Nekoma.”

Suga smiled brighter then. Karasuno and Nekoma  _ weren't  _ very different. Suga wondered if there had ever been other mages in Nekoma. “Did you have a teacher?”

“No… I didn't.”

“You learned shape shifting on your own then?”

Kenma blushed. “Y-yeah. I did. It was kind of an accident the first time I did it. I had a dream that I was a cat, and somehow shifted in my sleep.”

“Wow,” Suga chuckled. “That must have been quite the experience.”

“Yeah, I freaked out. Ushijima was your teacher, right?”

“Yes, he was. He was different back then. He was still powerful and arrogant, but he wasn't a bad person. I imagine being faced with execution is what made him snap.”

“Dying could probably make anyone crazy.”

Suga hummed and let his gaze wander. It was nice day, sunny, with a slight breeze. The crows were cawing at each other, filling the air with a familiar chatter. It reminded Suga of his lazy days back home. 

“I wonder sometimes,” he said, “if we mages made magic dark or light. I was told, that long ago magic was neither black nor white. It was both because nature is both. I wonder if we changed the balance.”

Kenma considered this for a moment. “Perhaps we did.”

~

Oikawa hadn't thought it necessary to get to know the people of Karasuno and Nekoma. They were visitors, soon to disappear from his life. Only the mages really mattered, and even then only Suga kept his attention. 

But Karasuno ended up on his radar anyway. Aone was a man of few words, but he spoke to those he deemed it necessary or worth the time. For Aone, refusing to speak and having nothing to say were two  _ very  _ different things. 

So after a good morning, finding Tsukishima wandering the halls piqued Oikawa’s interest. Any other afternoon, he would've let the boy go, but he was feeling good today, like trying to get this kid to talk was worth the time. 

“Tsukishima Kei,” Oikawa called, forcing the boy to stop and turn around, barely hiding a grimace. “It's so nice to see you.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “Is it?”

“It is. You see, a friend of mine has heard your name before but knows nothing of you. Even stranger, he's never heard of Yamaguchi at all. Your boy has more secrets than you. That means a lot, coming from Karasuno.”

“It means nothing. He simply has nothing to hide. He's the only one of us who has never done anything wrong.”

Oikawa raised an eyebrow.  _ That  _ wasn't what he expected. “And what is an innocent doing with you?”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. “That's a long story. One I don't think you  _ actually  _ care anything about.”

Oikawa grinned at that. A story like that meant that Yamaguchi had no story to tell.

“What about you then? I've got reason to believe  _ you  _ have more to hide than the other crows.”

“Have you ever killed someone, Oikawa?” Tsukishima asked. His eyes locked onto Oikawa’s, gaze intense. Oikawa felt a bit like he was on fire. 

“No.”

“Come see me when you have.”

~

Releasing the crows had given Suga an opportunity to do some hunting. While he searched for Bokuto, he sent out a single crow to look for Ushijima. He knew Nekoma’s spies had already begun their search, but Suga needed to know for himself where Ushijima was. He needed his teacher to know he was looking for him. 

He expected the answer to come days later, if not weeks later, but the next day wasn't an option. It shouldn't have been possible at all. 

Sage came through the castle, screeching like he was dying, and it only took a minute for all of Karasuno, Nekoma, and the castle staff to recognize the bird’s call and follow the sound outside. Sage perched on top of a boy, too young to be a soldier but in uniform anyway, tucked into an alcove toward the back of the castle. 

“What the hell is that?” Iwaizumi whispered, abject terror on his face and in his stance, his hand ghosting over his sword. 

“A message from Ushijima. He knows I'm here.” Suga said. 

There was an arrow sticking out of the boy’s eye, and his body was strung up on the archway, stuck on a hooked piece of metal that was driven through his neck and into the wall. The skin on his neck was pulled tight, the weight of his limp body almost too much for the flesh to hold on to. The soldier’s mouth hung open, stuffed full with the crow Suga had sent out the day before. The gaping hole left where the stake went through his throat had finished its bleeding, covered his body in dark red, now almost black, and pooled on the ground below him after dripping off his body all night. 

“There most likely won't be more,” Suga explained, trying to keep his voice even. “He's just letting us know he knows.”

Of course, Suga wasn't completely sure of that fact, but he believed that was most likely. If Ishijima was still the man he knew, there were some sane parts of him. Suga just had to bet on Ushijima’s morality still being the same as it was back then. 

He remembered Ushijima as a teacher, a man set in his ways who went down his paths like a violent, northern wind, blowing the only way it knew, neither meaning to break things nor apologizing when he broke them. But Suga also remembered the day Ushijima was torn from his throne, how his demeanor changed. He imagined now Ushijima was less of a cold, blustery wind, and more of a blizzard. He was a raging snowstorm that would blow through Miyagi bringing hypothermia and frostbite. There would be aftershocks, avalanches that would kill what survived his initial onslaught, then there would be a stillness and silence only Ushijima would see as he ruled the lands like snow, owning it only because his wrath had fallen upon it. 

For now, there were only dark clouds in the sky, a warning of storms to come. 

“Someone needs to get him down,” Suga said. 

Iwaizumi nodded and jogged off to get a ladder and some cloth to wrap the body in. Oikawa followed, heading inside to inform Ukai of the event. The Templars and castle staff returned to their posts. 

Nekoma and Karasuno remained, all eyes still fixed on the bloodstained body and the crow in his mouth. 

“That's one of yours, right?” Kuroo asked. 

“Yes,” Hinata replied before Suga could. He could recognize each individual crow that lived with him. They were all mostly the same, but he saw tiny differences in appearance or disposition. This one had a crooked toe, an old injury that healed wrong. 

“That's Atsushi.”

Kageyama and Tanaka both patted Hinata on the back. 

“How did Ushijima get him?” Kuroo wondered. 

“I was trying to locate Ushijima, track him. I don't know how, but he found Atsushi within a day of me releasing him and sent him back. I don't know who the soldier is.” Suga explained. 

“He's one of mine,” Kageyama said. “He's an archer. I think he was put on patrol around here last night.”

“Why would Ushijima kill him?” Kuroo asked. 

“He saw something he wasn't supposed to see.”

Kuroo huffed. “Like what? We know what Ushijima looks like and we know he has a demon army. What is he hiding?”

“Magic that we can't identify most likely. If he's learned some new spell that he thinks puts him at an advantage, he'll keep it secret as long as he can.”

“It's probably some dark magic that lets him teleport or manifest objects. That would explain how he found Atsushi in a day and sent him back.” Kenma said. 

Suga nodded. “That's likely, but there's no way to know for sure right now. We can only assume.”

“Is there any way for you to know for sure?” Kuroo asked.

Suga shook his head. He wouldn’t be sure about anything until he found Bokuto. “I need to find Bokuto. Akaashi knew something the rest of us didn’t, and Bokuto is the only person left who can tell us what that is.”

Kuroo nodded, but his gaze lingered on Suga for a moment. “You can’t find him, can you?”

“I’m at a loss right now, but I  _ will  _ find him. I have to.”

“What do you expect to gain from him? He’s been in hiding for years. That’s  _ if  _ he’s still alive anyway.”

“I think he knows something about the nature of Ushijima’s power. Something I don’t know.”

“If you think you can find him, do it.” Kuroo said. He met Suga’s eyes for a second and he only walked away when he saw resolve in the mage’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now THAT was a long wait for an update.  
> Sorry about that. Technically, this chapter was 90% done in April, but I literally just didn't finish it until now because I'm lazy and get distracted easily.   
> Sorry for the long wait and short chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

Ennoshita let the old, worn out tome he was reading fall closed with a thud. He groaned. He'd been in the library all day, searching for the enchantment Suga needed for this weapon. Whatever it was that Suga asked for, Oikawa didn't have it in any of his books. 

Ennoshita could only assume it was some sort of dark Mage creation. The name had sounded wrong in his ears, a feeling he's gotten used to after living with Suga for so long. Sometimes the spells his elder would use would sound foreign, like some magic that shouldn't exist in their world. 

Suga requested a bow. Finding the materials for the bow was hard enough, he'd asked for a type of black metal, something Tanaka had never heard of before. The blacksmith knew how to use carbon to turn metal black, but a metal that was  _ naturally  _ black? He'd never seen it. 

But he found it, after a while. 

“How's it going?” Ennoshita looked up and saw Tanaka in the doorway, leaning against the frame. 

“I still can't find it.”

“Then you should go to town. Oikawa doesn't have it, but a trader might.”

“But-”  _ but Oikawa told us not to go into town.  _ “How can I ask around for spells dark mages use?”

“You don't know that dark mages made that enchantment.”

Ennoshita gave Tanaka a look, his eyes unamused and mouth turned down. Tanaka put up both hands, his eyebrows raised. 

“Sorry, sorry. I know you're the expert here.”

“Why would Suga ask me to do something I can't do?”

“Maybe he believes you  _ can. _ ”

“I don't know.”

“Just go ask around. Don't ask for the enchantment directly. Just ask to see some books.”

“Nobody will let me. The people here hate us. They think we're mocking the noble houses.”

“They have to know by now why we're here.”

“We are  _ no one  _ to them. Just a bunch of cast offs in black. Why we're here has nothing to do with it.”

Tanaka sighed and sat down across from Ennoshita. His friend was brilliant, but sometimes he exhausted Tanaka. 

“Ask Yamaguchi for help. You mages  _ are  _ always talking about how you have to ‘stick together’ and ‘help each other’.”

Ennoshita nodded. “Okay.”

Yamaguchi usually spent his time with Tsukishima, who usually spent his time bouncing back and forth between helping Daichi with the soldiers and hiding from Kuroo. 

Ennoshita wasn't sure why Kuroo had taken such a liking to Tsukishima. It was almost like annoying the crow was the highlight of Kuroo’s day. 

And that is where Ennoshita found Yamaguchi, in a lesser used corner of the garden, keeping a grumpy Tsukki company. Yamaguchi was laughing at something Tsukki had said. Tsukishima himself was unguarded in that moment, something Ennoshita still was not used to seeing, with his mouth turned up into the slightest smile. A genuine one, not the smirk he usually sported. The smile disappeared when he noticed Ennoshita approaching. 

“Do you need something?” Tsukishima called. 

“Can I borrow Yamaguchi for a while? I need his help on a project.”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, but conceded with a nod. Yamaguchi stood up and flashed him a big smile, then walked off with a “see you later, Tsukki” trailing behind him. Ennoshita took Yamaguchi back to Oikawa’s library. 

“I'm trying to find an enchantment that Suga needs for a weapon. I just can't find it.”

He pulled a small sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Yamaguchi. 

“Do you recognize it?”

“Yeah. Suga has mentioned it to me before, but only in passing. I don't know what this does, but I know it's some sort of dark fire enchantment.”

Ennoshita raised his eyebrows. Dark fire was a cold substance that burned black and could put out normal fires. It froze the ground it burned on like ice, but it spread like a normal flame. Having ice as his natural element meant that Suga knew a lot about ice and its relatives. If Suga wanted to enchant a bow with dark fire, he could use inside the city. The dark fire could explode on impact, or spread from its source, killing demons but not harming the buildings in town. 

“He's a genius,” Ennoshita whispered. “It'll be cold enough to burn flesh but it won't burn down a house.”

Yamaguchi smiled. “I'm glad I could help you figure that out. But if you need to find the enchantment, I could go into town for you.”

“Ah, I don't know. Do you remember what Oikawa told us when we first got here? We're not supposed to go into town.”

“Oh, you're right. I forgot about that. I could ask Oikawa for help?”

“Sure. He should know where to find a book with the proper spells in it.”

~

Kageyama never enjoyed teaching others. The experienced archers in the army were good, but undisciplined. He spent much of his day praising them for their impeccable aim and steady hands, then chastising them for laziness and lack of motivation. That seemed to be the downfall of much of the military. Everyone, both archer and foot soldier, had skill but nothing to show for it. The recruits had the opposite problem. They were full of unwavering energy and ready to learn, but the lot of them seemed unable to catch up to their elders. 

Kageyama stared down one the archers he was working with, watching the boy’s stance closely. The kid was just a recruit, but he should have known better than to keep glancing at Kageyama, with his mouth turned down in a fearful frown. Kageyama held the boy’s gaze and the kid missed the target. 

Kageyama had been told his staring made some of the younger recruits uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what they meant. 

“Focus!” he called to the recruit, his volume startling the kid. “Keep your eye on the target. If you look away, you'll do even worse with a target that's moving.”

“Sorry sir.”

The kid grabbed another arrow and turned back to his target. Kageyama sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache forming behind his eyes. He left the recruit to his practice and went inside, hoping the low light of the castle interior would chase away the subtle pain building in his head. 

He swore it had been years since he last felt frustration like this. The kids here were all terrified of him and their work was sloppy, no thanks to their seniors who had no interest in teaching them. 

They reminded him a bit of Hinata when he was young. When Kageyama first met Hinata, they'd been on opposite sides of a fight and Hinata had been unskilled but enthusiastic. Passionate. There were times when Kageyama would think back to the early days of their relationship and sit in awe at how different they had been. Kageyama was cold then, more so than now, had lived and breathed his trade for so long he no longer knew what it meant to live outside of it. 

He was raised a city guard. He was prepared to die one. 

Once. 

 

_ This is where I want to be.  _

_ He'd said it on repeat for weeks. He wasn't sure he believed it anymore. He looked up at grey sky and stood amongst the damp fallen leaves and thought, this is where I want to be. He tried to believe it, even as he shivered in the freezing morning air.  _

_ A shiver of leaves to his right brought his eyes down from the sky to the ground, where a boy stood in the wet leaves, sinking into the mud. He'd frozen in place upon seeing Kageyama. He looked like he'd just stumbled out of the bushes nearby, wet leaves stuck to his boots and in his hair, dew soaked through his shirt. His clothes bore the thieves guild insignia but his face said amateur, scared because he'd stumbled upon a guard.  _

_ “Shoot first, ask questions later” had been the order given that morning.  _

_ But Kageyama couldn't bring himself to raise his bow. Instead he stared at the boy with the same expressionless look he'd turned toward the sky and said, “this sucks.” _

_ “Yeah,” the boy replied, voice shaking ever so slightly. “Yeah, it does.” _

_ “What are you doing out here?”  _

_ The boy shrugged. “Sneaking into the Sato Estate?” _

_ “You're not doing a very good job of it.” _

_ The boy huffed, his cheeks puffing up. He put his hands on his hips and glared at Kageyama, offended and childish. “You're not doing a very good job of guarding it! Why haven't you shot me yet anyway?” _

_ Kageyama shrugged and looked away from the boy. He repeated his mantra to himself a few more times before finally admitting, “I don't want to be here.” _

 

Hinata had, for whatever reason, seen it fit that he fix Kageyama’s problem, even if it meant Kageyama had to defect from service and both were on a wanted list. Kageyama assumed living in hiding would be worse, but Hinata had a way of finding the good things in the world. Places tucked away. Secret and beautiful. Traveling from one to another the only time they would see danger, it wasn't a bad existence. It was days like these, monotonous and frustrating, that made Kageyama think back on all the places Hinata had taken him- springs and grottos and endless fields of flowers- and he wished he could go back. 

He thought back to the village, that in the past had been nothing more than two farm houses and four residents, and he wishes he could go home. He wanted to see the house he built with Daichi, sleep in the bed he made with Hinata. He even wanted to tend to the horses, the only animals in his life that actually liked him. 

He let out a long, steadying breath. He didn't know Ushijima. He was half tempted to give up and let them age take whatever revenge he wanted. The only thing stopping him was Suga. Kageyama knew that confronting Ushijima was important to Suga, so he couldn't bring up going home. No matter how much he wanted to leave, he had to be there for his people. 

~

“Kiyoko, do you know if Oikawa if has rum root in his garden?” Yachi asked. 

Kiyoko looked up from her reports to level a questioning stare at her partner. “What do you need rum root for?”

Yacht laughed awkwardly and twiddled her thumbs. “I may have been reinforcing some weak wards I found near the back of the castle, and was startled by the sudden appearance of a Templar, and kind of maybe cast a little confusion spell on him that I know can be reversed by eating rum root.”

Kiyoko blinked and Yachi began to tear up. Kiyoko could see the apologies beginning to form on her assistant's lips. “It's okay! You're fine. It was an accident.  But no, he doesn't grow rum root. It doesn't have a lot of uses. But I'm sure the magic shops in town will have some.”

“Do you think he’ll be mad at me? I didn't mean to cast a spell on him!”

“I'm sure if we explain it was an accident, he will forgive you.”

“But he's been dizzy for a long time! And he can't focus!”

Kiyoko stood up and ushered the younger make out of the room. “He's more likely to forgive you if come back with a cure quickly.”

Yachi nodded and wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. She walked away with her shoulders squared. 

No one stopped her as she made her way through the labyrinth of corridors in the castle and crossed the castle grounds. She didn't run into any of her other mages in the castle and the guards at the gate let her through as soon as they saw the determined look in her eye. 

The walk to town was a long one, with a single road stretching between the castle grounds and the nobles’ houses in the inner ring of the city. Past them was the market, a bustling and tightly packed place. Yachi missed the stretch of road the moment she saw the crowd in the market. She felt like she could get lost in it. 

She shoved her way through the throngs of shoppers and workers, apologizing to every person she touched. Most ignored her. A few sneered at her apologies. No one bothered her with more than snide comments or judgmental glares. 

The magic shop was small and sat on the far edge of the market, close to the peasant neighborhoods by the city gates. The residents liked to keep the magic shop there so that wandering mages wouldn't need to venture too far inside the city to find supplies, and hopefully would move on quickly and without bothering anyone. It made finding it much more difficult for mages already inside the city. Yachi was out of breath and stressed from the negative atmosphere that surrounded people she bumped into by the time she found the tiny store. 

She sighed with relief when the sign out front came into view. She didn't notice a man walking toward her, and her shoulder clipped his side as he passed her. 

“I'm very sorry!” She bowed, hoping this man would ignore her like everyone else. 

“It's not a problem, dear.” He said. “Are you a mage?”

Something in his tone made ice flow down Yachi’s spine. She shot up from her bow and turned to leave, but he caught her by the arm. 

“Hold on now! I just wanted to give you some advice.”

~

“Oikawa! Suga!” 

The mages jumped at the crash of Oikawa’s lab doors slamming against the wall as Iwaizumi raced in. His mouth was set in a grim line and his eyebrows were drawn together like magnets were holding them in place. 

“You need to get the main hall now. You're both healers, we need you.”

“What's going on?” Oikawa asked, slipping past his work tables and following the Templar out into the hall. 

“It's Yachi. She went into town for supplies and ran into an anti-mage group. One of their members was hanging around the magic shop.”

“She was- wait.  _ Shit.” _

Suga saw Oikawa's eyes close for a moment, a look of understanding and guilt crossing his face. 

“Oikawa?”

“I didn't invite them to the meeting.”

“What?” Suga asked. Oikawa shook his head. 

“Kiyoko and Yachi. I didn't invite them to the meeting I had you bring your mages to. When we introduced ourselves and I told you all to stay out of town. I didn't invite them. She didn't know to come to me if she needed supplies.”

“This isn't your fault,” Iwaizumi snapped. Oikawa looked ready to argue but Iwaizumi glared daggers at him. “Not now. You need to focus on healing her.”

Yachi was laid or on a table in the main hall. The king, Nekoma, Templars, and Karasuno were all present, hovering around three edges of the room. The other mages were already gathered around her. Nurses stood by, their voices quiet. Suga and Oikawa could hear one mention they were afraid to move Yachi anymore than they had. 

She was covered in blood. Her robes ripped and burned along with the flesh underneath. She lay unconscious, her breaths coming in short, shallow huffs. Some of her sounds had been cauterized by the burns but many of her cuts and gashes continued to bleed onto the table and into the remainder of her clothes. Her face was stained red. 

“Move!” Oikawa ordered, pushing everyone nearby out of the way. He and Suga took up positions on either side of the girl, there hands set an equal distance apart and an equal distance away from her body. They made eye contact for only second before they focused on her. Her energy responded to theirs immediately and all three mages began to glow a dull blue. 

Her open wounds slowly began to close. They did not disappear completely but left lines across her body. Scars. The cauterized gashes followed suit and the burns were soothed. Her burned skin evened out as much as it could, some of the more severe burns leaving shiny patches on her. With her blood no longer pouring out, the pool around her began to sizzle like it was boiling. 

Snaps could be heard from inside her: bones cracking as they slid back into place. Fractures fused and dislocated joints popped back into position. 

Even when her lost blood began to flow up into the air like a mist before dissipating, Oikawa and Suga did not let their grip on her go. They continued their healing until her breathing deepened and evened out. Only then did the flow around them all fade and Oikawa and Suga backed away from Yachi. 

They both grew pale in the moments after, their own breathing labored. Iwaizumi guided Oikawa to a seat near the table. Suga was still standing but he turned to look for a seat of his own and black dogs clouded his vision and he felt his legs wobble. Ennoshita just barely reacted in time to catch Suga before he fell. 

“She’ll be alright,” Oikawa ground out, his lungs still struggling to take in air. “She may not wake up for a while. We can reverse flesh wounds”- he sucked in a breath- “and mend broken bones. But we cannot create new blood for her. She will need to regenerate it on her own.”

“Are you okay?” Hanamaki asked. A few other templars looked concerned as well. 

Oikawa nodded. Karasuno had gathered around Suga when he fell. Yamaguchi explained for Oikawa and Suga. 

“Healing magic doesn't just make people better. It's a trade. The energy of the healer interacts with energy of the wounded and replaces what was lost. The wounded is left in better shape, but the healer is left exhausted and often times sick. They'll need to rest for a while before they'll be okay.”

“Should we move Yachi now?” Kiyoko asked. 

“You can,” Oikawa wheezed. 

Yamaguchi took over for him again. “She's safe to move but it's best to keep her comfortable. Take her to her room and clean her up. Then make sure she stays in bed, even after she wakes up.”

The nurses nodded at the instructions and shooed Kiyoko. They carefully placed Yachi on a cloth stretcher and carried her away, Kiyoko on their tails. 

“This is why you didn't want us going into town, isn't it?” Yaku asked. Oikawa nodded. Yaku stared at the Regent Cleric for a moment, as if in contemplation, before he dropped he gaze and left whatever question had been forming in him for another time. 

“For now, we need to get these two to their rooms.” Iwaizumi said. He helped Oikawa stand and let the mage put most of his weight on him. Daichi lifted Suga much the same way. 

Suga looked to Kenma as he passed him. “Come with me. I need to speak with you.”

Kenma followed Daichi and Suga up to their room and waited patiently as Daichi helped Suga into bed. Daichi dropped down onto the bed with Suga, prepared to listen in on their conversation, but not participate in it. When he was comfortable, Suga set his attention on Kenma. 

“There's more than just anti-mage groups in town. Oikawa just didn't want to say in front of everyone else.”

“I thought so. Yaku thought so too, but knew not to ask. An anti-mage group wouldn't be responsible for the feeling we all have. Like someone is watching us.”

“But if there's something else here, we may be running out of time. I've tried scrying for Bokuto but he seems to have cloaked himself somehow.”

“How do you know he's alive?”

“Because scrying tools don't move if you are searching for a dead person. But mine kept going around the map in endless circles, never settling anywhere.”

“It can sense him but it can't find him.”

“Exactly. So I have to ask you, should I risk wasting time and attempt to get past whatever barrier he's created around himself or should I risk Ushijima finding out one my secrets?”

“That depends on what that secret is.”

“I have a harkenstone and I know a scrying song. If I teach it the song, no barrier will hide Bokuto from me. But, using a harkenstone will generate a very large cloud of energy around me. It's distinctive and if Ushijima is watching us, like I think he is, he'll know I have one.”

“Are you not worried about him listening in on this conversation?”

“I have reason to believe he can see us but can't hear us.”

Kenma dropped his head onto his hand and propped it up on his knee. He considered this for a moment.  _ If  _ Ushijima could see but couldn't hear, it would explain the feeling of eyes that lingered around the castle. It would explain Oikawa’s openness in speech but caution in gesture. 

“I'm not sure what to advise you. I think using one could be risky but I do believe Bokuto could be a great help to us. We should both weigh your options and discuss this again on another day. You should rest for now.”

Suga and Kenma said their goodbyes to each other. Kenma went to his own room and Suga settled into his bed. 

They would need to talk again soon, but for now, they would sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys. I've been gone for, what, 8 months??  
> I actually finished writing this chapter in February, but I told myself I wouldn't post it until I finished the illustrations I was working on. I wanted to do some art for the story as a way of saying sorry for disappearing off the face of the earth.  
> It's now March and I haven't finished any of those drawings. I keep starting over because I'm stuck in rut where I don't like anything I draw. But I've been gone so long I feel bad for putting off anymore. So here's the chapter. The next chapter is already partly written too!  
> But for those of you who do want to see the art for this story when I finish it, I'll be posting it on my tumblr, which I made solely for my fics: [ enceladuslife.tumblr.com ](https://enceladuslife.tumblr.com/)  
> EDIT: I have finally posted art!! It's only one drawing right now but it's there!!
> 
> Sorry for being gone, guys. I'll try to make it up to you.  
> 


	10. Chapter 10

The back of the castle was largely unused. The garden extended a bit into the area, but most of the back yard was stone walls and a stretch of grass before the tree line. The forest behind the castle was thick, cascading down a steep hill. The hill was steep enough that the town didn't spread onto it, and enemies struggled to work their way up it.

But demons did not worry about it, able to claw their way up the side with ease. The wards placed around the castle by the mages were meant to keep the weakest of them out, and alert the mages to the presence of those who could cross the barrier.

Nishinoya often skirted around the back of the castle, near the hill, to get to the training grounds where he helped Daichi with the soldiers. The glyphs caught his eye easily. The shapes carved into the trees glowed a dull green. He had a hard time not looking at them as they pulsed, but today his eyes were drawn away from green and focused on a new set of glyphs. These were magenta, and set slightly further back in the tree line than the green ones. They pulsed like the green shapes, but we're obviously a different spell.

They were scratchy circles made up of thick scribbles that formed a shape almost like an iris. Nishinoya thought they made the trees look like they had eyes. He'd never seen these wards before. The green curly cues he'd seen Oikawa placing left a warm feeling on his hands when touched them. He poked the iris and it shocked him, sending a painful tingling up his arm.

He shook his hand until the tingling subsided and turned around. Daichi could wait. Nishinoya wanted to ask Oikawa about the glyphs. He had a feeling the Regent Cleric hadn't placed them.

 ~

Iwaizumi didn't knock before he entered Oikawa’s lab. He was fiddling with his earrings, each made of two stone balls connected by a chain, and staring down at his desk in frustration. One hand was rolling an angel aura sphere around and the other tapped a small spoon on the table. There was a recipe in front of him.

“Have you seen Yachi yet?” Iwaizumi asked. Oikawa looked up from underneath his eyelashes. His mouth pulled back into a flat line.

“No,” he responded.

“She's doing better. Already up walking around again.”

“That's good.”

“She wants to thank you, you know, for healing her.”

“She shouldn't.”

Iwaizumi sighed and went around the table. He took the spoon from Oikawa and tossed it off to the side. Oikawa opened his mouth to complain and Iwaizumi clapped a hand over the mage’s mouth and shushed him.

“Listen,” Iwaizumi said. “Don't blame yourself for this. You couldn't have known this would happen. You didn't make this happen. But you helped save her life, and that was something you had a choice of. She wants to talk to you. Let her. Go see her. Stop beating yourself up over this.”

He looked down at the paper on the table. There were several recipes written on the paper, all but one crossed out.

“And stop working yourself to death as a coping mechanism. It's stupid.”

He took his hand off of Oikawa's mouth. Oikawa wasn't smiling, but his voice was lighter when he said, “working myself to death is what I do best.”

“You're an idiot.”

“And you're an asshole.”

A knock sounded at the door and Oikawa visibly sagged at the thought of other people seeking his attention.

“If I leave you here, can I trust you to do what I told you to?”

“Yes.”

Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a small smile before pulling him in for a short hug. He pulled away with a lighthearted smack to Oikawa's shoulder and he walked away saying, “take a break, dumbass.”

Iwaizumi disappeared into the hall and Suga awkwardly stuck his head into the room before walking in. He sat at his usual seat in the corner.

“Did I interrupt something?” He asked.

“No,” Oikawa said, waving him off. “He needed to leave soon anyway.”

“How are you doing today? You look a bit down.”

“I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. Iwa-chan’s already scolded me for moping.”

Suga laughed. “At least he takes good care of you.”

“He acts like he's my mom sometimes.”

Suga laughed louder at that. “You probably need that.”

Oikawa snorted. “Like the sun needs the moon.”

Suga rolled his eyes and smiled when he saw Oikawa glare at him. “If you know someone long enough, you know what they need even if they don't know it.”

“We haven't actually…” Oikawa sighed and leaned against his work table. “We never got the chance to know each other like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever heard the old stories of Day and Night?” Oikawa asked. His hands hovered over his paper full of recipes before falling to his sides, and his eyes grew unfocused. His lips turned down, not quite into a frown but still in a picture of sadness.

Suga shook his head. Oikawa hummed.

“They say that Day and Night were lovers. They wanted nothing more than to be together, but spending too long in each other's presence was painful. They chose times when they meet, dusk and dawn. Their time together was fleeting and coveted. They live for their time together.”

“Does this have something to do with you and Iwaizumi?”

Oikawa dragged his eyes over to Suga. He smiled, just barely, and nodded.

“I knew him when we were children, before he was a Templar and when I was just like every other mage in my age group. My parents couldn't afford to send me to Polaris.”

“My parents had to save up for most of my childhood to afford to send me. It's not an unusual situation to be in.”

“But I still wonder if things could've been different if they'd been able to send me. One of the local elders was a mage, a master, and he took me under his wing. When he did, Iwaizumi’s parents criticized mine, saying mages should be taught under proper care and observation by Templars. They'd been good friends before, but my teacher alone was enough to drive our families apart. His parents sent him to the Templars just a few weeks after I began training. Ten years later and I finally see him again, in silver armor. Here. I saw him again for the first time when I was named Regent Cleric. Long story short, tears were shed and stories were told and he was still the same kid I knew from home, although a bit more cynical and bitter. Getting him back was when I realized how lonely I'd been without him.”

“If you two were that important to each other as kids, I'm sure he felt the same during his time away from you.”

Oikawa smiled then, wide and toothy, but his eyes were watery. He blinked back his tears.

“He's easier to socialize with than me. I know a lot of people Suga, but I don't have a lot of _friends._ He missed me, I know that much, but I don't think he needed me like I needed him.”

“Have you ever asked him?”

“No. And I'm not sure I want to.”

“You should, whether you want to or not.”

Oikawa sighed dramatically, his head lolling to one side. We pressed his lips tight and played with one of his earrings before starting, “But-”

“It will be good for you. You love him. He loves you. If it's something you're worried about, talk about it. I tried avoiding conversations in the past. It's always better not to.”

“Have you?”

Suga nodded. “I was scared for a long time just to tell Daichi I liked him. Confessing to him was last minute. I did it just days before he lost his job. I'm sure if I would've waited any longer, we might not have stayed together after.”

Oikawa stilled at that. “You say you learn what someone else needs when you've known them for a long time. But what am I supposed to do if I can't give him what he needs, when all I need is him?”

“That's something you'll have to figure out when the time comes.”

Oikawa considered that for a moment. He didn’t particularly like the idea of bringing up their past, but he accepted the advice. He trusted Iwaizumi more than anyone else in the world and this topic had been one that was eating away at Oikawa. As confident as he liked to present himself as, he feared splitting up with Iwaizumi again. He was one of the few good things in Oikawa’s life that the mage had managed to keep. He didn’t want to lose him again.

Talk of Iwaizumi made Oikawa equally tired and energized, a strange imbalanced feeling. He supposed he should get out of his lab, change scenery.

“Have you spoken to Yachi yet?” Oikawa asked Suga after the silence in the room had become companionable.

“Ah, yes, I spoke with her this morning. She’s doing much better. She’s almost fully healed, just a little sore in places. She told me something rather concerning, though.”

“And what was that?”

“She believes one of her attackers was possessed by a demon. Her description of his appearance and behavior is definitely that of a possessed man, but I suggest you hear the story from her. She wants to see you.”

Oikawa processed that information slowly. He nodded, and excused himself, heading downstairs to where he knew Kiyoko had set up office. The Circle mage was at her desk, furiously writing what looked to be a lengthy report. She lifted her head when she heard Oikawa enter the room.

“Yachi is next door.” Was all she said before returning to report.

Oikawa gave her a quick bow in thanks and closed the door. He stepped over to the neighboring room and went inside after a few knocks and Yachi’s voice calling, “come in!”

He wasn’t sure what to say to her. He’d never actually had a conversation with the girl before. She didn’t have this issue, it seemed, and waved him over to her desk, motioning for him to sit in one of the free chairs. When he sat, she nervously tapped her fingers on the desk before stuttering out a “I-I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

She blushed, Oikawa assumed because of the stutter, and sat up straighter before continuing. “I wanted to thank you, first.”

“You really don’t need to.”

“You don’t like Circle mages do you?” Yachi smiled at him softly, then slapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry! That was rude.”

Oikawa waved at her. “No, no. You’re right. I’ve thought Circle mages were stuffy and boring. Don’t take it personally.”

“I won’t! Several of the Karasuno boys have told me I’m a delight, and I’ve been working on my confidence lately, so I’ve elected to believe them!”

Oikawa snorted. _She’s kind of cute._ “Suga mentioned that you thought one of your attackers was possessed. Would you mind telling the story again for me?”

Yachi stilled and swallowed. She sucked in a deep breath to steady herself. She nodded, and Oikawa watched as her expression grew more serious. The look felt odd on her face. Oikawa decided that dark topics didn’t suit her.

“A man stopped me before I entered the magic shop in town,” she said. “He was normal, just a regular human who doesn’t like mages. When he grabbed me though, a bunch of other guys came out of the alleyway and one of them hung in the back, a little ways away from his friends. He had this black smear on his mouth, like he’d wiped ink on his face. And his eyes were puffy and the veins in them were black. He was really pale too, like he was sick. I didn’t keep my eyes on him too long, but every time I glanced at him, he was twitching. I don’t know what happened to him, but when the other guys got done with me and walked away, he wasn’t there anymore.”

“He didn't do anything to you?”

“No. He just watched.”

Oikawa hummed. He sat back in his chair and Yachi did the same. She watched him think over her story. He wasn't sure what to say. If the demon was in full control of the man's body, there must have been a reason he wanted to watch the attack but not participate. Demons possessing people in the capital was practically unheard of anyway. With the Regent Cleric living in the castle, the King’s Guard being made up solely of Templars, and the city folk being suspicious of magic already, a man possessed by a demon shouldn't have gone undiscovered long enough to begin oozing the black blood possessed people gain after long periods of possession. How did he manage to live in town without someone turning him in to the King’s Guard? Unless he just made it into town.

“Oikawa?” Yachi asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I'm fine. I'll get back to you on this matter soon, Yachi, I promise. I need to speak with Suga about it first.”

“I understand,” she answered. Oikawa got up and left the room, still trying to wrap his mind around the man.

He didn't understand how the man could've passed unnoticed even for a short time with symptoms that serious. The townspeople were naturally suspicious _because_ the Regent Cleric lived in the castle. The concept of a mage powerful enough to rival the Nine, but without the supervision and careful law-abiding training the Nine would have received, made the people scared. He'd seen people being accused of secret magic for being a little weird, so he doubted a possessed person wouldn't be found out immediately.

As Oikawa took a turn down another hallway, he was stopped by a small body bumping into him. He looked down, his concentration broken, and saw Nishinoya.

“Oh! I've been looking for you!” The shorter man said. “I found Suga and I know you guys hang out a lot so I asked him where you were and here you are. I have something really important to talk to you about. Or maybe show you?”

Nishinoya was talking faster than usual, a nervous edge to his voice. Oikawa squinted at him.

“What is it?” Oikawa asked.

“Glyphs in the trees. I was running late again, like I am sometimes, to get to the pits to help Daichi train the soldiers, so I took a shortcut around the back of the castle. And I know you have wards back there but there were new ones this time.”

“What did they looks like?”

“Like eyes. Reddish-purple eyes.”

“Were there any near the back of the garden?”

“Yes.”

“Shit.”

The glyphs weren't new, like Nishinoya thought. They'd been there for a while. He'd simply never noticed them before. Oikawa thought back to the times he'd been with the other mages, how they all felt the presence of something watching them. None of them could tell what or where it was, but they could sense it was there _somewhere._ The fact that they were glyphs made sense. Glyphs gave off an aura, a tangible energy that could be felt by those nearby. Oikawa couldn't help but wonder if there was something around that could listen to them, but was a spell without an aura, a spell that couldn't be sensed by other mages.

“Do you know if Suga knows how to remove glyphs?”

Nishinoya shrugged. “No. I don't really talk to him about mage stuff, but if you run into Yamaguchi or Ennoshita before you find him, they'll know.”

Oikawa gave Nishinoya his thanks, and started off back down the hall.

“Wait,” Nishinoya called after him. Oikawa stopped and looked back at him. “Does this mean those glyphs definitely aren't yours?”

“No, they're not.”

Nishinoya nodded, but his face was paler, like he'd just realized how serious his discovery was. “I'm going to find Daichi,” he said. “Suga was headed toward the library when I saw him.”

The two then went their separate ways, Oikawa to the library and Nishinoya to the pits.

~

Tsukishima wasn't particularly fond of anyone he'd met in the capital. He'd made reluctant friends with Kuroo, but he didn’t _enjoy_ it. He didn't enjoy anything about this place. In fact, most things here pissed him off. He hated to admit it to himself, but he _missed_ Karasuno. His people were with him, being as annoying as ever, but it wasn't the same as being in the village with them, isolated and _safe,_ for the most part.

Of course, he'd never admit any of that out loud.

But the way Yamaguchi was looking at him now said that he knew what Tsukishima was thinking about. Yamaguchi smiled at Tsukishima, an expression that settled somewhere between cheerful and encouraging. He slid the plate of food they were sharing a little closer to Tsukishima.

“You know,” Yamaguchi said. “I'm homesick too.”

“I'm not homesick.”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes. “Sure. I'm just talking, you don't have to agree. But I'm sure you can agree that the capital sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” Tsukishima sighed. The two gave each other a meaningful look.

“Ennoshita and I are having a lot of trouble with the enchantment Suga wants on his weapon. Ennoshita has been through all of his notes, and I've gone through every enchantment book Oikawa has, and we still have not found it.”

“So you can't finish it?”

“No. We know what the enchantment does but not what it is. And we need to know the specifics of it to get the recipe right. If you don't follow the directions to a T, the enchantment won't work, but we don't even know what the enchantment is _called._ We could check the magic shops in town, but after what happened to Yachi…” Yamaguchi shook his head. “Even though Suga and Oikawa healed her, it's a bad idea for any of us mages to leave the castle again.”

Tsukishima considered that for a second before shrugging. “I could go.”

Yamaguchi swiveled to face him, eyebrows knitting together. “I don't know. You're not a mage, but you would be going to a magic shop. People might not know the difference.”

“So? I can handle vermin like anti-mage groups. And what are the other people going to do? Turn me in the King’s Guard?”

Yamaguchi blinked and nodded. “I guess you're right, but I would still ask Oikawa. We might think it's a good idea, but he might not. And I think he probably knows best.”

Tsukishima groaned. “I don't want to talk to him. He irritates me.”

“But who _doesn't_ irritate you?” Yamaguchi chuckled.

“Whatever. Just tell me what I need to look for and I'll ask that asshole if I'm allowed to go get it for you.”

Yamaguchi grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from the table behind him, quickly jotted down what Tsukishima would need to look for, and ushered him out of the room. Tsukishima reluctantly took the note and went in search of Oikawa.

He found him in the library with Suga and Yaku. The three of them were huddled around a book at one of the tables, murmuring to each other with serious faces, their gestures stunted and nervous.

Tsukishima knocked on the open door as he entered, drawing their attention. Oikawa and Yaku considered him with raised eyebrows, and Suga waved him forward with a tired motion.

“Do you need something?” He asked.

Tsukishima looked to Oikawa. “I need to get a book from a magic shop in town. You don't have it, Yamaguchi needs it, and I know the mages can't leave. Yamaguchi said I should ask you if I can go. I think it's stupid that I need permission, but here I am.”

Oikawa shrugged one shoulder. “I don't really care what you do. But I have to warn you, the people in town won't be able tell if you're a mage or not.”

“He'll be fine. He can handle the hate groups.” Suga said.

“And the possessed man Yachi saw hasn't been accounted for. We don't know where he is.”

“He can handle demons too. Yachi was caught off guard, and she is already naturally anxious. Plus, we don't know how powerful she is. It's possible she's fairly weak.

Tsukki won't have that problem. It's impossible to catch him off guard, and he's hunted demons before. He'll be okay.”

“Okay, do as you please.” Oikawa consented. “If your leader trusts that you're capable, then I have no reason to argue.”

“I'm not the leader…”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Bullshit. People think Daichi's the leader but we all know you're secretly in charge. I'm leaving now, so you three can go back to whispering to each other angrily or whatever you were doing.”

Tsukishima could hear Suga chuckling as he walked away. He didn't look back to see if the other two were reacting to him in anyway. He stopped by his room to pick up two small knives that he hid away in sheaths sewn into his sleeve. Normally he carried two matching falchions, but _apparently_ civilized people didn't like for others to have weapons in residential and commercial areas, so he wasn't allowed to bring them out of the castle. Luckily, the knives were thin enough that they didn't cause a noticeable lump in his sleeves, and the guards at the gate were none the wiser.

The townspeople eyed him suspiciously. His all black attire marked him obviously as a crow, and they knew it. They hated it. Especially in the richer districts closer to the castle. Tsukishima wondered how long Karasuno would have to stay in town for these people to finally get over themselves. As he got to the poorer districts further out, the glares sent his way became fearful glances. No one lingered on him for too long.

He, on the other hand, kept an eye on everyone. He never looked for too long, but he took in as much of the surrounding area as he could. He knew that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to blend into the crowd here, but he could process their movements, their body language, the general rhythm of the area.

People kept out of the center of the street mostly. Very few people walked the back alleys. He occasionally saw people emerge from them or standing in them, but it wasn't often. The streets were busy despite the incident yesterday. He assumed no one cared about violence in the streets if it was a mage getting hurt.

That sort of thinking pissed him off because he’d seen it before. He knew none of these people helped Yachi. They’d all watched and steered clear of the mess until those men were done beating her. Tsukishima glanced at the old women to his right and a mother and child to his left and wondered what they would’ve done if it had been Yamaguchi instead. Circle mages were lawful people; Yachi hadn’t used magic on a civilian to defend herself. Yamaguchi wouldn’t have been so noble. Tsukishima could only imagine how much worse things would’ve been if it had been Yamaguchi, and he started setting things on fire. Tsukishima still remembered how he met Yamaguchi, how they lived in a shack on the edge of a fishing village, away from the others to avoid whispers about Tsukishima being “dangerous” and Yamaguchi a “heathen witch.”

Tsukishima made eye contact with an old man at a market stall. The man glared at him, and Tsukishima exhaled slowly through his nose and looked away.

He didn’t take more than a few steps more before he heard a woman scream and the sounds of concerned voices rising in volume. His eyes were drawn toward the commotion immediately. The woman was about to enter the alleyway. He couldn't see what had stopped her, but the people around her began pulling her away from the entrance. It took a few minutes for the crowd to part enough for Tsukishima to see a man stumble out of the alley, his eyes pouring black tears and his mouth covered in a black sheen, running down his chin and oozing from cracked lips. The blood vessels in his face were dark and swollen, easily noticeable on such pale skin.

No one dared touch him. He made his way to the center of the street and stopped, eyes to the sky. Tsukishima took note of a woman who ran off toward the other end of the market, likely looking for a guard. The possessed man stood still for a few beats, before his head snapped in Tsukishima’s direction. He lifted a finger, shaking slightly, and pointed at Tsukishima.

“You,” he said, his voice wavering as if speaking was a difficult task. “You… You’re people intend to f-fight him. Don’t fight him. No.” He shook his head. “Do. Do fight him. I don’t want to-him. I don’t make contracts. I don’t care what the rest of the legion does. O-One man can’t contract with all of us.”

Tsukishima had fought and killed his fair share of demons in the past, but none that acted and spoke like this. This one was crazed, wheezing like he’d punctured a lung, his grip on the human body he inhabited almost seemed unstable. The body was trembling violently.

“C-can’t break contract,” it continued. The demon began shambling over to Tsukishima. “His soul will be spl-split between us. Can’t be done. Can’t be done! No reward, no contract. I want out.”

It screeched then, an inhuman sound that the man wouldn’t have been able to produce on his own. This man was too far gone, had been possessed for too long. Tsukishima took a look around and only saw civilians huddled on the street corners and inside buildings and behind stalls. No guards had come yet.

When his eyes fell back on the possessed man, he could see what the demon intended. It sat on its haunches, trembling still. Tsukishima unsheathed his two small knives and made sure the demon could see them. It growled at the sight of them and lunged forward on all fours, a motion more animal than human, aiming for Tsukishima’s legs.

Tsukishima easily sidestepped the demon. He watched as it scrambled to get up, looking something like a fallen dog attempting to gain purchase on a tile floor. When it righted itself, it stood back up on two legs, like its human body should’ve done, and launched itself at Tsukishima again. It attempted to grab him, but he quickly slapped its arm away and kicked out one leg, tripping the demon. He squinted at the thing as it pushed itself back up. It wasn’t very fast, and it wasn’t trying very hard. Normally, a demon was either an ambush predator, or relied on superhuman strength or speed. Demons possessing people didn’t care about the body they inhabited, and in a fight to the death they’d be willing to break the human they inhabited just to bring down their adversary. This one stood back up and threw a punch slow enough that Tsukishima caught its fist in his hand with minimal effort.

“I can’t tell if you want to die or not,” Tsukishima said. The demon paused. It looked down at its body and then up at him, and for the first time since it appeared on the street, it stopped trembling.

“I want out,” it said. “Don’t want to die. I want out.” It reared back, its human eyes widening. “Mage and legion. Can’t- I want out. Out. Out. Out. _Outoutoutout-_ ” It cut itself off with a loud, harsh intake of breath.

It screamed at Tsukishima, something both human and not. The sound sent chills down Tsukishima’s spine, a reaction to a fight he hadn’t had in a long time. It barreled into him, still screaming, and finally its demon strength was there. The hit sent Tsukishima flying across the street. He rolled back onto his feet before he hit any civilians. He ran back to the demon, and the demon ran at him, the two meeting halfway. Tsukishima saw its arm swing toward his head and he ducked and swung his own arm out, lower, near the stomach. He felt his knife pierce flesh, but the demon didn’t stop. It turned on its heels and let the blade slide back out.

Tsukishima swiveled on one foot, facing the demon again in time for it to lunge at him. It jumped at him, teeth first, prepared to bite, and Tsukishima had to fall backwards and catch himself on his hands. The demon jumped over him, rolling itself onto its feet behind Tsukishima. He flipped over and pushed himself and hard as he could, tackling the demon at its ankles. He heard the _thump_ of its head hitting the ground and let go to push himself back onto his feet.

The demon recovered almost immediately. Its face was covered in blood, leaking from a cut on its head. It was on its feet but it wobbled a little. The human body it possessed may have been enhanced by its power, but it was still human. It shook itself until the wobble was gone.

It pulled its arm back to punch and Tsukishima surged forward, knife ready, and slashed upward, cutting through the shirt the demon wore and cutting into its neck and slicing part of its chin. As it stumbled back from the blow, Tsukishima kicked out a leg, knocking it off balance. He saw the thing fall as if in slow motion, and  he twisted around as much as he could and stabbed down with his arm, catching up to it. He could see his knife slide easily into the possessed man’s temple. It rippled around the knife and Tsukishima could hear the demon screeching. Black oozed from the stab wound. The black fell onto the ground and the wound exploded. Tsukishima had to turn away to avoid the blood, but he could see the corporeal form of the demon crawling across the street.  

It was weak and running, but it wasn’t running fast enough. Tsukishima caught up to it in two long strides and grabbed its head. This one looked somewhat like a dog, furry and black but with a wrinkled, smushed face. It grabbed at Tsukishima with skinny, four-fingered hands, squealing like a pig. Tsukishima brought his foot down on its lower half, holding it in place. His knives weren’t big enough to behead the beast, but he slit its throat. It took it a moment to die, but soon its body went limp. Tsukishima drove a knife through its head too, just in case, and dropped the body on the ground.

Tsukishima looked up and saw guards staring at him, eyes wide and fearful, horrified. They didn’t move toward him, so he paid them no mind. He ignored the frightened looks of the citizens and continued down the street He still intended to buy the book Yamaguchi needed. He found the store a little ways away, but just before he entered he heard a man spit, “ _assassin.”_

He leaned toward the man, pointed to his ear, and said, “come again?”

“You’re an assassin!” the man cried. “One of them, from the brotherhood! Marked killers. Only your kind fight like that, with that stance, so low to the ground.”

Tsukishima let his face fall blank and blinked once, twice at the man, and entered the shop. The woman behind the counter nervously took his note from him, and looked at him like he’d asked for her first born when she finished reading it. He waited at the counter while she rummaged through her back room. She came back with a book, bound in deep red leather. She thrust it into his arms

“Take it,” she demanded. “You don’t have to pay. I want it gone. Someone gave it to me. I tried to refuse, but they said I had to take it, someone would need it. So please take it. I don’t need that kind of evil in my store.”

“Who gave it to you?”

“I didn’t see his face. Now take the book and go.”

Tsukishima took the book without further comment. The stares he got on his way back to the castle were more obvious now. People blatantly followed his tracks, their gazes landing on him and not leaving. Luckily, no one tried to stop him. Even the guards he passed gave him a wide berth.

Back at the castle, Tsukishima gave the book to Ennoshita and Yamaguchi. They’d met up with Tanaka by the blacksmith’s forge.

“Make sure this book isn’t cursed,” Tsukishima said. “Shopkeeper said a man gave it to her and demanded she keep it because we’d need it. I think that’s just a little creepy. But then again, anything involving Suga ends up creepy in one way or another.”

“You sure are calm for someone who just killed a demon,” Ennoshita said

“You heard already?”

Both mages nodded. Ennoshita pointed toward the road. “A city guardsman came running through yelling for Templars because you killed a demon. I assume they need Templars to clean up the body.”

“Is everything okay?” Yamaguchi asked. Tsukishima sat down and Tanaka sauntered a little closer.

“You look drained,” Tanaka said.

Tsukishima shrugged and sighed. “Someone recognized my fighting style. He’s seen guys from the brotherhood before. He called me out.”

The other three exchanged concerned glances.

“Are you okay?” Yamaguchi asked. Tsukishima gave him a long look before nodding. Truthfully, he was a little shaken. Any mention of the brotherhood brought images of Akiteru back. Any memories of his brother were painful ones. But Tsukishima wasn’t going to talk about it here. If he talked about it at all, he’d wait until he and Yamaguchi were alone.

The brotherhood was an organization of assassins. Tsukishima and Akiteru had been born into it. Akiteru _died_ because of it. He told Tsukishima he had a job, that it would take a while. In reality, he’d been planning to sneak himself and Tsukishima out so they could start a new life somewhere else. Their superiors found out, dragged both of them to the woods,and executed Akiteru. They made Tsukishima watch. Tsukishima followed the plan, he got out, and he ended up lost three days at sea and washed up in that damn fishing village.

It took him a long time to understand why Akiteru lied to him.

But Tsukishima had done all the talking he wanted to do on this subject. He told Yamaguchi some of the story when they started calling each other friends. He went into great detail when they started dating. He didn’t have much else to say.

He stood up and stretched, and tried to ignore the caring looks the other three gave him.

“I’m going to go lie down,” he said. “Enjoy your book. Apparently its evil.”

“Should we go tell Suga about the mystery man who owned the book before?” Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima nodded. “I would. Maybe he has an idea of who it could be.”

Tsukishima hoped Suga had an idea of who it could be, but he decided not to say that part out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo this chapter is long. It's almost 3,000 words longer than the last longest chapter I think.  
> I've been pretty excited about this chapter for a while! I've wanted to work in Tsukishima's point of view for so long, and now finally I have. 
> 
> Oh, and hey my dudes: I finally posted some art over on my [blog](https://enceladuslife.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me guys. And be happy. I updated twice in one month. That is a great accomplishment in my eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

Suga, Yaku, and Oikawa stood in front of one of the eye glyphs at the back of the castle. They spent much of yesterday talking about them, and agreed that they were the source of the feeling of being watched. Yaku had even spent much of the day studying them, and while the marks themselves made sense, they weren't in any books he owned. They weren't traditional glyphs. Upon spending time around the glyphs, they found traces of an illusion spell, dissipated at that point, but likely used to hide the watcher glyphs from view. 

“Okay, but why did the illusion spell dissipate  _ now _ ?” Yaku asked. “If Ushijima is as powerful as you two claim, he could've made a spell that would last for  _ years.” _

“You're right,” Suga answered. “Which means he did it on purpose. I can't imagine his reason why.”

“Perhaps he has all the information he needs,” Oikawa offered. 

“Possibly. Or it could be something else entirely. There's no way for us to know right now.”

Yaku sighed and grumbled about dark mages and wars, and stuck a hand over an eye. He wiped it across the tree bark slowly, a hissing noise like boiling water rising from the mark as he went. When he reached the bottom of the mark, he pulled his hand away and studied his work. The mark was gone, but the bark underneath was warped and slightly charred. 

“That can't be good for the tree,” Suga joked. 

“It will heal,” Yaku said and moved on to the next tree. 

It took them another hour to find all of the glyphs scattered across the hillside. When they were done, Yaku took his leave, and Suga and Oikawa were alone.

“Can I ask you something?” Suga asked after a few minutes of silence between the two.

“The fact that you’re asking permission doesn’t make me feel good about what you want to ask, but go ahead.”

“I’ve been considering leaving for a while. I’d come back of course, my job here isn’t done. But, there’s something I need to do. While I’m gone, I’d like for you to keep an eye on a few things for me. Could you do that?”

“Of course. What do you need me to do?”

“Look after Ennoshita for me. He’s working on a project for me right now. I trust him to complete it, but he’ll be working with things he doesn’t understand. I’d like for an older, more experienced mage to keep an eye on him while I’m not here.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Thank you. Daichi will look after the rest of our group. But I want you to tell me everything the Nekoma mages do while I’m away as well.”

“Why? Are you suspicious of them?”

“No. The opposite actually. I want you to let Kiyoko and Yachi in on things from now on too. If, for whatever reason, you feel that they’re not trustworthy, I’ll let you cut them loose. But I’d like for you to give them a chance, and the days I’m away are a good time to do that.”

“If you want me working with circle mages, I must ask for something in return from you.”

“And what might that be?”

“A fight. Spar with me. I want to see what you can do.”

 

Suga agreed to the fight, and met Oikawa in the pits where the soldiers normally practiced. They’d all been relegated to the sidelines, and were happy to do so. The majority of the castle had shown up to watch the fight. They crowded around the outside of the pit like they were in a colosseum. It wasn’t everyday they got to see two powerful mages spar. Traditionally, sparring matches were done using only elemental magic, and Oikawa and Suga had agreed to follow those rules. It didn’t allow for many types of spells, but the lack of variety forced mages to get creative, and non-mage spectators wouldn’t notice anyway.

Suga wasn’t one to use his ice magic much, especially not for fights. He’d grown used to using dark magic to fight demons in the forest, where no one could see him, and he hadn’t been in an official spar for years. He didn’t even need to spar with Ennoshita or Yamaguchi since they’d mastered their elements, electricity and fire respectively, years before they’d met Suga. 

Naturally, because of this, Suga was a bit nervous about the fight. Although Oikawa only suggested it for the sake of seeing more of Suga’s powers (and Suga suspected that the change of pace might be for fun), Suga couldn’t help but worry about his performance being subpar. He was being tasked with leading the charge against Ushijima. What would everyone think of him if he didn’t do well in this fight?

“You’ll do fine,” Daichi said, placing a hand on Suga’s lower back to steady him. “You worry too much.”

Suga sighed and leaned into Daichi. “I know, but I can’t help but wonder how it will look if I lose to Oikawa today and disappear tomorrow.”

“I know why you’re going, and so does Kuroo, Oikawa, the king, everyone that actually matters.”

“You already told Kuroo and the king? I decided on leaving last night.”

Daichi shrugged. “They needed to know.”

Suga rolled his eyes and flicked Daichi’s arm. “Well, next time you tell people my business, tell me who you’re telling first.”

“Yes, sir.” Daichi gave him an almost serious salute and quick peck on the forehead. Suga left Daichi and ventured into the center of the pit. Oikawa was on his way to the middle as well, and the two met and shook hands.

“I kind of wish all these spectators weren’t here,” Oikawa said.

“ _ You _ don’t want spectators? That’s strange.”

“We can’t fight as seriously with people so close by. Trust me, I don’t mind showing off my obvious superiority and magical prowess,  _ but  _ this pit wasn’t made for mages to spar in.”

Suga rolled his eyes. “I should’ve known.” 

They turned away from each other then, put a little distance between them, and took their stances. Elemental magic was primal. Unlike other types of magic, these spells couldn't be cast with words or thoughts. They were part of the body, an extension of the mage. A fight between mages was very much a  _ fight.  _

A hush fell over the crowd. The world was silent in anticipation for a heartbeat, two, three. 

Suga put one foot in front and put his weight forward. In a matter of seconds, the air around him cooled until ice crystals formed on the ground around him and his breath came out in white puffs. He saw Oikawa narrow his eyes and shift forward as well, but the other mage made no moves. Suga drew his right arm back, shards of ice formed in the cold air under his hand, and he swung his arm forward, sending the shards flying toward Oikawa. 

Oikawa braced himself and swiped left with one arm. A gust of wind blew the shards off course and away from his body.  _ Air.  _ Suga had almost forgotten the mages’ introductions in the garden so long ago.  _ Oikawa’s element is air.  _

Ice vs air wouldn't be as flashy for the spectators as more opposing elements would be, but for the mages, it would make for an interesting fight. 

Oikawa brought his hands up to his mouth and dropped them flat in front of his face as if he were blowing a kiss to Suga. The motion was enough to send a violent gust of wind barreling toward Suga. He barely had enough time to raise his arms in front of him, forming an ice shield that diverted the flow of air. 

When he dropped his arms, the ice melted away. The last piece dissolved into the air just in time for Suga to see Oikawa drop down in his haunches and jump forward several feet. The wind he used to propel himself kicked up dirt, leaving a dusty cloud behind him. Suga rolled out of the way of the other mage’s landing, and took off for the other end of the pit. He needed to keep distance between them. 

Oikawa had an advantage being able to jump like that, so Suga dropped into a squat and put his hands flat on the ground. Ice flowed out from his hands and covered the pit in a thick, shiny layer. Now, Suga had his own advantage. He always moved faster on ice or in snow. Ice mages never slipped, after all. 

With the floor slick, Oikawa couldn't quite keep his footing. He went to jump again but slipped. His wind pushed him up, but not forward, and Suga raised his hands from the ice, bringing dull ice spikes up with him. 

Oikawa turned in midair as he fell back toward the ground and swiped at the spikes. The force of the wind he blew sliced the dull tips off the spikes, leaving a flat, but still unpleasant platform to land on. He hit the shaved spikes with a grunt and rolled back onto his feet. 

Suga lowered the now useless spikes. Both mages stood in flat ice again. They charged at each other and in a moment almost to brief to see, their hands met each other’s chests. Suga froze Oikawa's chest and upper arms and sent him hurdling into the ice. Oikawa blasted Suga with air and shot the ice mage halfway across the pit. They both hit the ice with a thud. Suga could feel a dull pain spread across his back where he hit the ice. 

Oikawa broke the coating of ice in his body and the two mages stood up again, winded. 

Oikawa pushed the air in front of him, sending a gale to Suga and pinning the mage against the wall. The impact with the wall knocked the breath from Suga’s lungs. He wasn't steady yet when his feet hit the ground and Oikawa blew him off the right. Suga was barely able to save himself, put his hands out to brace his fall. He pushed him up and encased his feet and ankles in ice to hold himself in place when Oikawa waved another gust at him. 

Suga focused on the ice beneath Oikawa’s feet and flicked his arm up, raising the ice. Oikawa wasn't centered on the pillar and fell off the edge. He landed chest first in the ground, his legs curved over his back in a painful arc. He winced but quickly hauled himself back up. 

Suga rushed over to him before he could regain proper footing. Oikawa reached out to attack again, but Suga moved faster. He met Oikawa’s body hand to neck and ice spread from his fingertips. Before the Regent Cleric could respond, his body was completely encased in ice. 

Unable to move, he was unable to fight. Suga waited three ticks to free him, as sparring rules said, and held a hand out to his opponent. Oikawa was frowning at his defeat, but he took Suga’s hand and shook it, then immediately recoiled and starting furiously rubbing his arms to return some warmth to them. 

“That was interesting,” Suga said. 

“Yeah, it was.” Oikawa replied, teeth chattering. “Thanks for accepting my request, but let's never do this again. I'm so cold.”

Sug laughed as the other mage walked away, vigorously rubbing his arms again. He walked out of the ring and straight to Iwaizumi, so Suga exited as well. He stopped by Daichi and dipped his head toward the castle. 

As the crowd dispersed, they slipped back inside and up to their room unnoticed. The night before, Suga had packed a bag full of supplies he would need for the road. It was a last minute decision. He hadn’t even taken the time to talk to Kenma again like he’d planned on doing. He’d woken in the middle of the night with anxiety sitting on his chest like a weight.  _ You’re running out of time _ , was all he could think. Now his bag sat on the foot of the bed, on top of a dark-stained wooden briefcase. 

He and Daichi flopped down on the bed, postponing any work they’d planned on getting done after the fight.

“Did you enjoy the fight?” Daichi asked, quietly, like speaking too loud would disrupt the moment.

“Yes. It was a nice change of pace.”

“Are you feeling any better today? Has anything changed since last night?”

“I feel better, but I’m still going. Even if it’s short notice, I do think it’s important that I go now.”

“I’ll keep an eye on things here for you.”

“Of course you will. You have to do  _ something _ important around here.”

“Your confidence in me is truly uplifting.”

“I try my best.”

~

Kenma darted back into the lesser used halls of castle as soon as Oikawa and Suga’s fight finished. He didn’t want to be swept up in the crowd as everyone rushed back to their posts. He hid away in dark alcove in one of the halls. He’d never seen anyone use this hallway for anything. He would be able to avoid the rush there.

But when he reached the alcove a black spot caught his eye. He squinted at it from afar and saw it  _ move _ . He moved closer, barely, and the thing seemed to turn to face him, as much as demon of this kind could.

It hung upside down on the ceiling, a black, undulating mass with no face. Its body tapered to a point that Kenma assumed was meant to be the face, but it was featureless. The point led the body in its motions. It spoke but there was no mouth to form the words. 

“Dark mage,” it said, its voice raspy like an wise old man. “Your kind cause us much grief.”

“Am I supposed to sympathize with you?”

The demon chuckled. “No, mage. I don't expect sympathy. But I am here to talk with you.”

Kenma squinted and grimaced at the demon. It's head bobbed lightly in front of the mage. Kenma couldn't tell if that was meant to be a reaction. 

“I have no reason to speak with you. I suggest you go back to wherever you came from before someone else notices you here.”

“Demon hunters line these walls, I've seen. Your people. The crows. I am not safe here, so I wish to speak with you quickly.”

“Or you could go.”

The demon sighed and bobbed again. “The mage is making promises he cannot keep.”

“Ushijima?”

“How many demons can a human contract with?”

Kenma raised an eyebrow. The demon waited. 

“One.”

“But he holds a contract with hundreds now. Some are defecting, the bond lasting too long, and connected to too many. Some of us seek others to contract with first, so he does not approach us.”

Kenma couldn't stop his eyes from widening at that. When a demon and human formed a contract, they formed a bond. It allowed them to speak over long distances and sense each other's locations. Kenma had never heard of someone contracting with multiple demons at  _ once.  _ He could only assume that the reactions of the demons meant this bond was forged between  _ all  _ who held a contract with the same person, demon to human and demon to demon. 

Kenma thought about he had been told of Tsukishima’s fight in town the day before. The demon had been crazed, desperate for a way out of its contract. 

Why would Ushijima want that?

“What do you say, mage? I'm offering you my allegiance.”

“I'm not interested,” Kenma said. He waved the demon off. “Go before I kill you.”

The demon bobbed again but did not retreat. It seemed to stare at Kenma with its eyeless face. Kenma stared back, the frown on his face getting deeper as the minutes dragged on. 

When the demon did not leave, Kenma groaned. 

Kenma opened his mouth again to speak, but the demon interrupted him. “I watched the fight between the crow mage and the Regent Cleric. It was short but informative. I see why the crow is expected to take on Ushijima. The crow and the Regent Cleric may be the two most powerful mages in the country.”

“Irrelevant. Leave.”

“I would like to make a contract with a mage who is close to them.”

“I’m not that close to them. You’re wasting your time.”

The demon bobbed but once again did not leave. The two stared each other down for many minutes, Kenma’s irritation rising the entire time. Only the sound of footsteps bounding down the hall took their attention off each other. They both turned just in time for Hinata to spring into the air, dagger out, and grab hold of the demon’s head. He drove his dagger into its face, all the way to the hilt. The demon screeched and writhed, but Hinata held on. He withdrew his blade and drove it in again. The demon bucked hard enough that Hinata had to dog his nails deep into its skin to hold on. Another blow to the face and the demon finally wilted, fell silent, and dropped to the floor. Its body dried and fell to pieces, then withered into a pile of tiny flakes.

Kenma opened his robe and grabbed an empty bottle from the satchel he hid underneath. He scooped up a vial full of the flakes, capped it, and hid it away inside the satchel. Hinata watched in a mixture of confusion and horror, his mouth open as if he wanted to speak but nothing would come out.

“Thank you for that. He was irritating.”

“I saw you from the end of the hall,” Hinata said, pointing back the way he came. “But I couldn’t tell what you were doing so I started walking down here and then I saw the demon and it wasn’t doing anything and you weren’t doing anything, and why didn’t you  _ kill it _ ?”

“I was going to eventually. We were having a conversation.”

Hinata lifted an eyebrow. “About  _ what _ ?”

“Ushijima.”

Hinata blinked then. “And the whole collecting its flakes thing?”

“Black salt.” Kenma shrugged. “Useful potion ingredient.”

“Of course,” Hinata sighed. “Mages are weird.”

“I need to speak with Suga now. We can spend some time together later if you’re not busy.”

Hinata perked up then. “Yeah! Come find me! I won’t be doing anything!”

Kenma nodded and started toward Suga’s room. He stopped a maid on the way, told her where to find the rest of the flakes, and asked her to relay the location to Oikawa so that he could collect and use them. 

 

Suga was half asleep when he was jerked from his daze by the sound of knocking at his door. He sucked in a deep breath and rolled over to get up, encouraged by Daichi softly patting his head. He stood and slowly shuffled over to the door, and was met by Kenma. 

“I just had an interesting conversation with a demon,” Kenma said.

Sug blinked. “Oh? Tell me about it.”

“There’s not much to report. Ushijima has contracted with several hundred demons. Contracting with multiple demons binds those demons to the human contractor  _ and  _ to the other demons he’s contracted with. Having that many voices in your head is what’s driving the demons crazy.”

“‘Not much’ my ass. That’s a lot of really significant information. Information that I honestly don’t know what to do with.”

“I’m not sure there’s anything to do at all. It’s good to know, but it’s not anything we can change.” 

“Thank you for letting me know.”

Kenma nodded and left.

“Now I won't be able to sleep,” Suga grumbled.

“Walk it off,” Daichi said. “Come back when it’s all settled in your head.”

Suga smiled. “And then we can take a nap together?”

“Yes.”

Suga left Daichi in their room and went out to the yard to see Tanaka and Ennoshita. He hadn’t seen them yet that day. He knocked on the wall when he entered. Ennoshita and Tanaka sat at a table to the right and Nishinoya hovered over them. The trio looked over at Auga when he came in.

“Hello, Noya. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Hi, Suga.” He replied. “I usually follow Daichi around, but since you two scampered off to shower each other in love or whatever it is you do when you’re alone, I came here instead. I haven’t spend quality time with my boy recently.”

“I’ve missed you, my man.” Tanaka said. They both sniffled and hugged each other. 

“I figured out what enchantment you need for your bow,” Ennoshita said, ignoring the men beside him fake crying over their “inhumane” amount of time apart. “I just haven’t figured out to put it  _ on  _ the bow yet.”

“Speaking of bows,” Tanaka said, suddenly serious. He detached himself of Nishinoya and grabbed a large unstrung bow from the table. He handed it to Suga. It was a complicated design. It was a recurve bow made up of inner wooden limbs and grip, all stained black. Blackened metal plates were fastened to the outside of the limbs, trimmed in bright red, and sharpened to points. They created a jointed look to the bow. There was no string, and the tips of the limbs lacked traditional nocks. The bow  _ couldn’t  _ be strung. 

Tanaka did his best to keep it as light as possible, but with the metal additions, there was no way to make it as light as traditional wooden and composite bows. Suga held it as if he were nocking an arrow. The bow was weighty, but nothing he couldn’t handle. It would definitely do it job.

Suga sat the bow down on the table. He brought Tanaka in for a hug, chuckling slightly at the sheepish smile on the boy’s face. “It’s beautiful. You did a wonderful job.”

“Well, I  _ am  _ the best.”

“Thank you.”

Tanaka laughed and pulled away. “You act like I could say no to you.”

Nishinoya put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “None of us can so no to you, Suga.”

Suga put a hand over his hand and smiled at them. All three gave him a hearty thumbs up and huge grin. 

“How’s Asahi doing? I haven’t spoken to him in several days.” Suga said when the moment passed.

Nishinoya groaned. “He’s not doing anything. I mean, he’s doing  _ things  _ but not important things, you know? I asked him to help Daichi and I teach these good for nothing royal soldiers how to kill demons, but he refused. I told he could always help Tanaka with maintenance on our weapons and armor. He refused that too. He won’t even help Yamaguchi and Kageyama with their daily stuff. Yamaguchi’s been helping the kennel master with the dogs, and since there’s no normal animal that actually likes Kageyama, he spends all his time with our horses. I don’t know what to tell him to do.”

“What has been doing then?”

“Helping the staff mostly. You know, helping the maids clean, cooking with the kitchen staff. Apparently, it took them a while to warm up to him, but now they all love him.”

“That’s good, Noya. Asahi doesn’t do well with violence. You know that more than anyone. Helping the staff may be the best place for him.”

Nishinoya groaned deeper. Suga frowned at him; he frowned back. Nishinoya and Asahi had met under unfortunate circumstances, but helping underappreciated workers was something Asahi had always done.

Nishinoya had wracked up a high enough bounty for stealing that when he was finally caught, his captor was given more money than he knew what to do with and Nishinoya was given a choice: lose his hands or slavery. Nishinoya had expected prison, but he been in prison before. And he escaped. He decided he very much wanted to keep his hands and chose to take his chances with slavery. He was lucky Asahi’s family had been the first to buy him. 

The Azumane plantation was a quaint but high quality farm. It sat on over 20 acres of farmland, which was split between cherry trees and grapes. Nishinoya hadn’t expected much of his new life, but the family treated him well and the other slaves were friendly. Asahi spent part of everyday in the fields with the workers. Suga wasn’t surprised when Nishinoya first told him they’d started their relationship in secret after months of seeing each other ever day in the fields or the orchard.

It wasn’t until Asahi’s parents found out about them that Nishinoya ran into bad luck. They sold him to a coal miner not too far away. He owned the company but he didn’t actually do any mining. He bought slaves and bribed them to work harder by only feeding the five who brought up the most lumps of coal. The only illegal thing Asahi had ever done in his life was steal several hundred thousand yen from his father, impersonate a slave trader, and buy illegally buy Nishinoya under false pretenses and run off with him before his father or the coal miner figured out what had happened.

The fact that now Asahi was spending his days aiding the maids and chefs made perfect sense to Suga. Though, he could see why Nishinoya was frustrated. Asahi was capable of a lot more than he gave himself credit for.

“You want him to work more actively on the war effort.”

“Yes, I do, but-”

“But he is happiest where he is. He’s alleviating the stress of the people taking care of us. He  _ is _ helping the war effort. He’s just doing it more subtly. He’ll listen to you when he wants to, and no sooner.”

Nishinoya deflated and sat down. “I guess.”

Suga gave him a pat on the shoulder and changed the subject. “You all know I’m leaving tomorrow, don’t you?”

“I heard from Daichi,” Nishinoya said.

“Where are you going?” Ennoshita asked.

“To find Bokuto. If he’s alive, I need to speak with him before Ushijima gets any closer. He probably knows something that I need to know.”

“Do you even know if he’s alive?”

“No, but if he’s not, I’ll be finding his final resting place instead.”

“Are you sure about this?” Tanaka asked.

Suga shook his head. “To this, I’ll need to reveal to the king that I have a harkenstone. I don’t suspect he’ll be happy about that. Plus, I’ll be leaving all of you here to find someone who may be dead. I don’t like that.”

“We’ll keep an eye on each other while you’re gone,” Ennoshita promised.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

“All the more reason to stick together.”

“Folks around here don’t like us much, after all.” Tanaka said.

“Go find your deadman,” Nishinoya said.

“Or alive man,” Tanaka added.

Suga rolled his eyes and pulled the three of them in for a hug before leaving the smithy. He trusted them to take care of each other. All he needed to worry about was whether or not Bokuto was truly alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not totally sure how I feel about this chapter but....
> 
> I'm back again after another break!  
> This time I didn't stay 100% gone though. After all I did finish a couple [drawings.](https://enceladuslife.tumblr.com)


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